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SBK, Sparks fly between Bautista and Carrasco over racing line incident

Alvaro had complained about the Spanish rider's low speed, which caused him to crash. The answer: "You say that because I'm a woman? You crashed by yourself"

SBK: Sparks fly between Bautista and Carrasco over racing line incident

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At the end of the final day of the Jerez tests, sparks flew between Ana Carrasco and Alvaro Bautista. It all started with a crash for Ducati’s Spanish rider at the first corner on Wednesday. The Ducati world champion did not mince his words about the crash, blaming Ana.

“I had Ana Carrasco about half a straight length in front of me, but in the braking zone I got closer to her much too quickly. I had to right the bike, came onto the dirty outside of the corner and the front wheel slipped off. Nothing happened. Ana should ride with the amateurs; at the moment she is way too slow to ride with the Superbike and Supersport guys. It’s not very safe” commented Bautista.

Carrasco, who was taking part in the tests with a Yamaha R6, actually did have a different speed compared to the SBKs: more than 10 seconds on the flying lap yesterday compared to the best SBKs and about 6 and a half seconds from the fastest Supersports.

Ana (who won the Supersport 300 World Championship in 2018) didn't take Alvaro's criticism well however: "you say I have to ride with amateurs because I'm a woman? World Champion, I saw your board at the finish line and knew you were coming. Between turns 1 and 2 I got on the inside, turned to see when you would pass, and saw you were crashing…so don't tell fibs” she replied on Twitter.

As always in these cases, who is right lies somewhere in between. Bautista is right to complain about riders who are too slow on the track during a test, but on the other hand, Carrasco wasn’t riding a prepared bike, but a standard one. With better organization, controversy and dangers could easily have been avoided.

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