Suzuki’s home race in Japan ended in bitter disappointment after Alvaro Bautista threw away a golden chance to claim a career best MotoGP finish at the Twin Ring Motegi.
The Spaniard was pushing in fourth position to keep a hard charging Andrea Dovizioso at bay when he lost the front-end of his factory GSV-R machine at the penultimate corner on lap 14.
The chaotic early stages of the 24-lap race had seen former 125GP world champion Bautista run in third place for six laps.
Valentino Rossi and Ben Spies had collided on the first lap, Casey Stoner ran off track while leading and Marco Simoncelli and Andrea Dovizioso were both penalised with a ride through penalty for jumping the start.
Stoner took third from Bautista on lap 12 as the Aussie surged back through the field but Bautista had a healthy advantage of seven seconds over Dovizioso’s Repsol Honda when he tumbled out.
