Rizla Suzuki to Run One Bike in 2011
Henny Ray Abrams | November 8, 2010
VALENCIA, SPAIN, NOV 8 – Rizla Suzuki will run only one bike in 2011, the company announced, confirming what had been rumored for months.Spaniard Alvaro Bautista will race the lone GSV-R800 in 2011, the last year of the 800’s. This year’s teammate, Loris Capirossi, left the team for the Pramac Racing Ducati team and won’t be replaced.Bautista finished this season 13th overall, with the high points being fifth place finishes in Catalunya and Malaysia. Capirossi had a miserable, inury-plagued year, finishing 16th with only two top ten finishes.The belief in the paddock was that Suzuki was contractually obligated to Dorna to field two bikes. But there has been little talk of a second rider for some time and Suzuki denied rumors of signing at least one rider.With only one Suzuki lining up, the grid for next year’s MotoGP World Championship will be 17 bikes.
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
