Aspar laments unfortunate run

Sunday was by all accounts a day to forget for Jorge Martinez Aspar´s lower cylinder category riders, with mechanical problems and crashes hitting the 125cc and 250cc squadrons at highly inopportune moments.

The worst of luck fell to Alvaro Bautista in the quarter litre class. The Spaniard was leading his home Grand Prix on the final lap, but an engine failure and subsequent collision with Metis Gilera´s Marco Simoncelli left the Spaniard with a DNF for his home race and outside the top ten in the overall standings.

`I don´t think that Alvaro is having the most fortunate start to his season,´ noted Aspar, who transmitted none of the blame to the rider himself.

`He is doing the perfect job; in Qatar he was incredible in practice and then suffered with a defective tyre in the race. Then he has an engine problem in Jerez. I really hope that the luck of a champion returns to him, because he is a born winner.´

Before watching Bautista's last minute heartbreak -and the home race accident that left the team´s other 250cc rider Hector Faubel in the gravel before the chequered flag was shown- the former rider and lower cylinder category kingpin had watched the leading lights of his 125cc outfit come unstuck. Qatar racewinner Sergio Gadea crashed out of the race early on, whilst reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi had the first Aspar bike problem of the day and was also forced to retire from the race.

The misfortune was doubly inconvenient for the two riders due to the relatively slow pace of the 125cc field, which would have facilitated a win for either Talmacsi or Gadea.

`There were lots of young riders in a group in that race,´ noted Aspar. `The pace surprised me, because it was very slow as they rode in a group. Hopefully at the next race things fall back into place, because now we have to forget about Jerez and look ahead to Portugal.´