Goodbye Stuart Shenton

Suzuki's crew chief, Stuart Shenton, has left the squad after an amazing 19-year career with the Japanese marque. Shenton is the longest Gran Prix team member for suzuki. Shenton joined Suzuki in 1992 and has been chief engineer for many great Suzuki riders including, Kevin Schwantz, Sete Gibernau, John Hopkins, Loris Capirossi and numerous others in his illustrious career.

Before join with Suzuki, this experienced Englishman began work in the motorcycle Grand Prix paddock in 1976 with Kawasaki, before moving to Honda in 1983. End of Shenton's career at Suzuki also came from impact that Suzuki only use one rider on next 2011. Due to Suzuki’s decision to operate a one-man team next season, several other members of the crew will join Shenton in leaving the squad. George Dziedzic, Richard Francis, Jeffrey Oh, Tsutomu Matsugano, Renato Pennacchio and Erkki Siukola will all be greatly missed following the re-structure for 2011.

Suzuki Motor Corporation would like to thank all of the departing crew-members for their years of service and wish all their ex-team-mates well in their new careers.

Shinichi Sahara – Team Suzuki MotoGP Project Leader:

“I want to wish Stuart all the best and thank him from the bottom of my heart for everything he has done for Suzuki. He has always been so hard-working and striving for the best result. He is one of the most methodical men I have worked with in motorcycle racing and the team will greatly miss his experience and drive to get things done. I also want to pass on my best wishes on behalf of Suzuki to the other guys that have left the team. It is very unfortunate – and sad – to say goodbye, but I hope they will always remain friends and that we have the chance to work together again in the near future.”

Rizla Suzuki pays tribute to Capirossi

Rizla Suzuki has given Loris Capirossi a fond farewell after he left the Suzuki MotoGP team following the final race of the year at Valencia in Spain.

Capirossi joined Suzuki at the Valencia test in 2007 and made his racing debut in 2008. He has been a firm favourite with Suzuki’s management and crew in his three years with the team and has brought a wealth of experience and passion that all who have worked with him have benefitted from.

Suzuki Motor Corporation, all members of the MotoGP team, title sponsor Rizla and the team’s other sponsors and partners would like to wish Capirossi and his family well in the next steps of his career and in his personal life, and to thank him for the three years of hard work and effort that he has given the team.

Loris Capirossi:

“I have had a great three years at Suzuki and am obviously very sad to be leaving. The results have not been what we wanted, but we have never given up trying and the whole crew has always given me the support and help I’ve wanted. I have made some good friends during my time here and I hope those relationships will last long after the racing. I want to wish Paul, Sahara-san, Álvaro and the rest of the team all the best for 2011 and I look forward to fighting against them on a race-track somewhere in the near future.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“On behalf of Suzuki Motor Corporation and the whole team, in addition to Rizla, we thank Loris for the three years that he has been with the team and wish him the best of luck for the future. Loris has been a ‘racing animal’ and a great ambassador for Rizla Suzuki both on and off the track - even when things have not gone according to plan he has been a true professional and a gentleman. Loris has become a good friend of the team and we will be sad to see him leave. We hope that Loris, Ingrid, Ricardo, Roberto and all his family and friends will remain in touch with us and feel free to say hello and come for a coffee whenever they want – because they will all certainly be very welcome. We all hope that Loris continues to have success, health and happiness in the next steps of his career – grazie, Loris!”

Source: Rizla Suzuki Official Website

Paddock Girls Special: Rizla Suzuki Estoril 2010

RIZLA SUZUKI PADDOCK GIRLS ESTORIL 2010

Official: Loris Capirossi To Pramac Ducati 2011

It's officially announced, Loris Capirossi will ride for Pramac Ducati next year. This Italian rider will starting test at Valencia next November. Capirossi last rode Ducati machine at 2007 with 800cc machine.

Paolo Campinoti - Pramac Racing Team Principal

"We are very pleased to have closed an agreement with one of the most experienced riders and one of the most titled of the current MotoGP World Championship. The deal between us was very simple because Pramac Racing Team, and him, always aim to try to fight for important results. We do not need to talk about Loris, we all know him, we know his value and we are sure that thanks to his quality, we'll have fun next year on all the tracks, taking also some satisfaction. With Loris we will celebrate our tenth anniversary in the World Championship and this is a real honor for us. We know that Loris had conquer in his career 99 podiums and we hope to achieve together the triple digits. I would like to thank our partners who have welcomed our choice and we hope that Loris's and Pramac Racing Team fans will follow us with passion during next season. "

Loris Capirossi

"This return on a Ducati bike make me feel like a child. I do not feel my 37 years! I have a great desire to start this new adventure, I'm enormously pleased about this new agreement that was reached with the Pramac Racing Team, this will allow me to ride and be part of an Italian Team. I would like to thank the Team Principal of the Pramac Racing Team, Paolo Campinoti, for giving me this great opportunity and for the confidence placed in me. I'll find again the Ducati, with whom I had very good results over the past years and that I was able to develop in the 2007, this is an unique sensation for me. I thank Suzuki for the years we spent together and thanks also to the excellent relationship maintained with them, they had give me the possibility to race with my new Team since Valencia's test of next month."

Capirossi Has Confirmed For Estoril

The Italian rider Loris Capirossi has has confirmed will race at Estoril this weekend after an injury in last few races. Capirossi was ruled out from Australian GP because a thigh strain and also out from Malaysian GP because a foot injury.

“It was disappointing to find out I had got some small fractures in my foot, but it won't stop me riding, because I was ok in Australia and it didn't cause me too many problems there – in fact it is easier to ride the bike than it is to walk! 

“I have had some intensive treatment on the thigh muscle and that is also a lot better. I can't wait to get back on my bike and give the guys something back for all their patience and hard-work over the season, especially after the tough three-week tour we had on the other side of the world which gave us nothing but pain and bike damage. 

“Suzuki and the team have always been good to me and I want to show them that I am here to do my best and compete with the best riders.”

Rizla Suzuki Still Try To Finish The Season In The Best Way

After making an impressive start race, Loris Capirossi finally cannot finished due to a fail-safe measure as he went into a corner, causing him to run into the gravel. Capirossi was unable to re-start his machine and forced to retire.

“Overall the weekend has been quite positive and we have been in a good position all the time – apart from right at the end of today! I started well and got into a good rhythm behind Marco and Colin, at some points on the track I would lose time on them, but in other places I would make a lot of time on them. Then five or six laps from the end the bike started to slow down a bit. I don’t know what happened, but then it started to go ok again and then with a couple of laps to go it completely stopped. I am very sorry for the whole team, but it seems the luck is just not with me this season – we will still try to finish the season in the best way that we can.”

Capirossi made an impressive start and settled into a good rhythm in seventh place, fighting with Colin Edwards and Simoncelli for fifth. Capirossi looked in with a good chance of attacking the pair in the last few laps, but an electrical issue caused him to lose power and slow dramatically. He was very disappointed to leave Motegi empty-handed after what had been a very positive weekend for him.

Capirossi's partnet Alvaro Bautista had different ends at Motegi Grand Prix. He took a fine seventh position.

“It was not a good, but also not a bad result! We improved on our position from the last few races, but I had a problem in the first few laps with the rear tyre because it was just not getting enough temperature in it, this made it difficult to follow the others riders. After three or four laps I got back into my rhythm and saw that I could keep a similar distance and time to the front group, but the gap was too big and I wasn’t able to catch them. I am happy with the result and the whole team has worked very hard all weekend, but we need to improve on what happened in the first few laps, because in this category those laps are very important. I hope that in Malaysia we can make steps with this and we’ll try to be in the position that I think we should be - which at the moment is in the top-six.”

Another Good Result From Bautista At Aragon

Good result came from Rizla Suzuki racer Álvaro Bautista after finish eighth place at his home race Aragon. Got a good start from 12th on the grid, Bautista was blocked at the first corner and couldn’t capitalise on it to make up as many places as he wanted. 

“I had some great battles out there with De Puniet, Barbera and some other riders and I really had fun during the race. At the beginning I had a bit of a problem when I was braking and I felt a lot of moving in the front, so I couldn’t keep up my speed entering the corners. I wasn’t able to push how I wanted, but luckily after a few laps the bike started to work how I wanted it to – it was much more like the bike I had in qualifying so I was able to find a good rhythm. In the middle of the race the performance started to deteriorate and it was getting very difficult to follow Barbera on the fast back straight. This made it very difficult to overtake him and if I did manage he immediately came back past on that straight, so that made me lose more time on the guys in front and the riders behind started to catch us. I had to fight right until the last corner on the last lap to keep eighth place once I’d got past Barbera, I was forced to close every line and in the very last turn Melandri tried to come past but I was able to block him. Today the bike was probably not perfect because the tyres started to slide from the middle of the race onwards. I fought as hard as I could and eighth is not a bad result, but I certainly think we can do better.”

Rizla Suzuki and the rest of the MotoGP paddock now embark on a three–week Far East tour taking in Japan, Malaysia and Australia in consecutive weekends. The first of the trio will be at Motegi in Japan on Sunday 3rd October, when Rizla Suzuki look to welcome back Loris Capirossi from injury to partner Bautista at Suzuki’s home Grand Prix.

Bautista Pleased With Aragon Free Practice

Álvaro Bautista was happy with his first day’s work after changing weather conditions meant two totally different free practice sessions. After reach 14th position on the FP 1 (1'52.822), Bautista then reach 12th position with 2'05.170 on the FP 2. His to speed on the FP 1 was 315.1 Km/h and 311.3 on the wet FP 2 session.

After Colin Edwards dismiss Aragon race this weekend, Bautista was the Rizla Suzuki’s sole representative at the Motorland Aragon Grand Prix in Spain. This Spaniard was the busiest rider of the day as he completed a total of 39 laps of the 5,078m track during the two sessions.

Álvaro Bautista:

“We had the opportunity to ride in both wet and dry conditions today and that was good because we were able to learn a lot about the track. This morning I used the softer option of tyres and at the beginning of the session they worked very well. It is a new track with new reference points so I had to try to push on without really knowing where I was going and I was able to learn the track – I felt good on the bike and the lap-times were pretty good as well. I made a stop in the middle of the session and carried on with the same tyres, but the rear was too soft and I was losing a lot of time from the exit of the corners – so I was unable to improve my lap-time. This was a good session for us though because it meant we learnt that we could not do a race distance with that type of tyre. This afternoon in the wet I just wanted to ride the track and find where the limit was. I rode very quietly and tried not to take too many risks and improve step-by-step. The lap-time was not very fast compared to other riders, but my feeling was good out there. I know I can improve the setting and performance in both wet and dry for tomorrow and I have a lot of confidence that we will make big steps over the weekend whatever the weather.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“We are all really impressed with the Aragon Motorland facility. The layout of the racetrack is very challenging and the organisation is second-to-none. There seems to be a real pride around the place and it certainly deserves a Grand Prix event.

“Everybody knows the story regarding Loris and it’s a big disappointment for him not to be here – especially when it is through no fault of his own. That said Álvaro will be determined to wave the flag for Rizla Suzuki – and for his home fans – this weekend. It’s been a solid, if not a spectacular start for him today. He’s always more of a racer that a practice rider, so we have high hopes for him for the rest of the weekend.”

Alvaro Bautista Will Be A Single Fighter At Aragon

Aragon Grand Prix will be 3rd home race for Alvaro Bautista at this season. But now this Spaniard will go it alone without Loris Capirossi. Capirossi was ruled out with hand injury after accident at the Misano Grand Prix with Nicky Hayden

“I am really excited about this race as it is a new circuit for everyone and we are all starting from the same place. It will be good to have an extra practice on the Friday so we can get the bike set-up and start to learn the track as soon as possible. We went there earlier in the year for a PR event and rode some street bikes around the circuit; it is a great facility and one that I am looking forward to racing at. It is a shame for Loris that he won’t be here and it puts more responsibility on me as I’m the only Rizla Suzuki rider, but I am determined to get a good result for the whole team in front of another home crowd for me.”

Aragón is a brand new venue on the MotoGP schedule and the riders will be given an extra session to acclimatise themselves with the 5,078m track, as the Friday morning free practice is re-introduced into the timetable. The Motorland Aragón circuit is situated near Alcaniz, approximately 120kms from Zaragoza. The track was built in 2009 and features seven right-hand and 10 left-hand corners over its anti-clockwise layout. The longest straight is just under a kilometre in length and with a selection of flowing curves, tight hairpins and fast sweeping bends the circuit looks like providing plenty of entertainment.