Whilst the 250 riders were lucky to escape the worst wind of the day for free practice yesterday afternoon, today they endured reverse fortunes at Valencia. As in the 125cc class there was a local flavour to the top of the time sheets, as the home riders used their knowledge and experience of the track and conditions to pick up vital slipstreams that helped combat the effects of the wind.

The two Mapfre riders put on an impressive showing in this morning’s final free practice session but were unable to repeat their performance as the blustery conditions intensified in the afternoon. Álvaro Bautista experimented with a new set-up designed at giving him more rear traction on his Aprilia but the changes did not have the desired effect and he could only qualify ninth fastest. Mike di Meglio, who set the pace in the morning session, crashed in turn six on the fifth lap of qualifying and even though he was able to get back on track fifteen minutes later his concentration was clearly affected and he could do no better than 15th.
Balázs Németh is all set to sign off from the 250 class with a points finish the target after qualifying 19th.

9th Álvaro Bautista 1.37.303 (22 laps):
“We tried a different setting for the afternoon because we had some traction problems this morning but it didn’t work so we went back to the original setting – unfortunately we didn’t have time to get many laps in after that. There was a lot of traffic on track at the end of the session too and I wasn’t able to improve my lap time. It means that once again we’re starting from further back than we’d like but hopefully we can have a good warm-up and gain the confidence to push hard from the start of the race. Everybody wants to win tomorrow so it will be a close race and important to stay in touch with the leaders from the start.”

15th Mike Di Meglio 1.37.958 (15 laps):
“The crash this afternoon was a real shame because it set us back a lot. I set a good pace this morning and I was hoping to carry it through to the afternoon but I lost the front after five laps trying to brake too hard and it was a pretty stupid mistake. Luckily the guys did a great job to get me back out on track so quickly and looking on the positive side we know we have a setting for the race tomorrow – it’s just a case of getting my confidence back in the warm-up and we’ll be ready. We have a battle on our hands but the objective is just to enjoy myself and make it to the finish.”

19th Balázs Németh 1.38.737 (21 laps):
“After this second day I think we are all set for tomorrow. Despite the wind I was able set a decent lap time and find my reference points for the race tomorrow. On my last lap when I was improving my time I made a silly mistake, which cost me the chance to improve it slightly. Anyway, the times between myself sand the guys immediately in front of me are close so I think I can challenge for points. It won’t be easy because it’s the last race of the season and everybody wants to do well.”