Weight limit ‘stupid’ - Bautista not in favour after alleged Redding claims made

The alleged comments from Redding came on the eve of this weekend’s British WorldSBK round at Donington Park. 

Redding claimed Dorna should introduce a minimum weight for rider and bike which would take away Bautista and Ducati’s incredible straight-line speed. 

But as expected, Bautista reacted strongly to such claims by calling the idea ‘stupid’. 

"To me it’s just pushing. For me, you always want more speed," said Bautista. "Look at Aleix Espargaro; he’s very tall like Scott [Redding] and he’s very hard on his training and his weight is maybe six kilos more than me. 

"If Scott wants to be faster on the straight then you just have to lose some muscle. But then you have to move the bike with less muscle and less strength so you have positive and negative points in my case. 

"For me, it’s a stupid thing to put a minimum weight with a bike with this weight. We don’t use the full power of these bikes in most of the races. It’s a stupid thing."

Rea ‘has something extra’, says Bautista - are Rea's main WorldSBK rivals playing for second place?

Come the end of free practice two Jonathan Rea had an advantage of over five tenths from Toprak Razgatlioglu - seven tenth to series leader Bautista. 

It’s not the first time that Rea has been extremely quick on a Friday before Bautista has eaten away at the Kawasaki rider’s advantage, however, even Bautista knows that stopping the six-time world champion this weekend will be very, very difficult. 

"I think today has been positive but Jonathan [Rea] has something extra from everybody," added the Spaniard. "But to fight for the podium, I think we are able to be there. 

"Tomorrow we will try a small change that can maybe give me something but I don’t know if it will be enough to fight with Jonathan because he is a bigger distance [further ahead], but you know, in the races everything can happen until you take the checkered flag. 

"Tomorrow and after tomorrow the temperature is coming higher and maybe this can help us. But in any case, for me it is important to find some tenths to be even more safe and comfortable. 

"To fight for the victory here against Jonathan is very difficult because he has extra pace, but I have to be focused on myself. I’m not worried about whether I can fight with Jonathan or not." 

Bautista in 'defence' mode for the first time this season

So far in 2022 Bautista has been able to attack more often than not, with it often paying off in the form of victories.

But Saturday and Sunday at Donington Park could be the first race weekend of the season where defending is his main objective.

Bautista said: "It’s more or less the feeling like that [a weekend where he needs to defend]. It’s like in Misano - I felt like I could attack so I did it and won, but here it is different. I have to defend more than attack. But races are races and this is the good thing about his sport."