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SBK, Bautista marks down improvements but still not convinced about Honda’s balance

“I want to make the Honda balanced in all situations. I still struggle too much when I have to ride in a group. Nothing strange about the crash, I was just pushing hard"

SBK: Bautista marks down improvements but still not convinced about Honda’s balance

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Alvaro Bautista and Honda's weekend at Aragon hadn't started badly. In FP1 the Spaniard's CBR 1000 RR-R impressed managing to get into fourth position just 222 thousandths from Chaz Davies who yesterday was the best of the lot. In the afternoon, however, Alvaro did not take to the track, he told us, as a precaution given the technical problems suffered by his engine (later changed by the HRC team) in the final part of FP1. Today Alvaro finished his race on the asphalt outside Turn 5 due to a crash.

“The problem with my races - Bautista told us - is that I suffer too much when I have to fight with other riders. Our bike at the moment needs to be ridden with a style that I can't use when I'm in a fight because we don't have the correct balance yet. After a few laps, when I had enough space, my pace was good, I pushed hard and crashed. I didn't make any mistakes or do anything different from usual but when you push to the maximum it can happen that you lose the front and slide ”.

Do you have any idea what you could improve to make the Honda work well even when you are racing with other riders around?

"I think it's something to do with the electronics. I can’t brake the way I brake when I am on my own, I normally brake very late and very hard making the engine brake work. When I'm in the group, I can't brake so late, I have to be softer, the engine braking works in another way, the bike doesn't brake as well as I would like and I can't enter corners as well. We have to fix something from an electronic point of view to make the bike more balanced in all situations. I don't know how difficult it will be because I'm not an electronics expert, we have the data and we have to solve it ”.

In the race today you were the only rider to mount the SCX at the rear, don't you think it could have been a risk?

"No, it wasn't a risk, I used it for the Portimao races and also in the tests, I like this tyre but the problem is that we only have 4 available for the whole weekend and so I can't use them all the time. Yesterday I wanted to try the new SC0 but I couldn't, so I tried it this morning but it didn't work well. I used the SCX both in Superpole and for the race and I liked it before the crash, the drop was more contained than the SC0 and I felt good. Last season I couldn't use it because after a few laps it was destroyed while in this condition I can do it ”.

However, many riders complain about the wear of this tyre. Can you make better use of it?

"The SCX is 2/3 tenths faster than the SC0, I've tried it on various circuits and that's it. The problem for others is the drop which for us is not very big and this allows us to use it "

What can you tell us about the Superpole? You got seventh time and a start from the third row.

"I have improved in Superpole compared to other races, when I am on my own, I can ride this bike in the right way and everything works more or less the way we want".

Do you have a goal for tomorrow's two races?

“For tomorrow we have some ideas on how to try to improve my sensations at the start of the race but I don't have a specific goal, I just want to improve and I know my pace is good. We'll see, the watchword is: improve "

 

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