Brno MotoGP: Suzuki cagey on Alvaro Bautista deal

Suzuki is remaining tight-lipped on the strong rumour that it has clinched a deal to sign highly rated 250GP title contender Alvaro Bautista for 2010.
The 24-year-old will definitely move to MotoGP next season, but precisely where his future lies has remained the subject of intense speculation for several weeks.
It was widely anticipated that the former world 125GP champion would move to MotoGP with current team boss Jorge Martinez’s Aspar operation.
Martinez announced a MotoGP deal with Ducati at last month’s British MotoGP race at Donington Park, but at that stage he’d not been able to clinch a deal with Bautista.
Bautista is now looking increasingly likely to move to Suzuki to ride a factory GSV-R. But a Suzuki spokesman told MCN: “It is no secret that Suzuki has spoken to Alvaro and there is interest to have him involved in our project.”
Speculation about Bautista’s Suzuki deal intensified with Hector Barbera appearing to get close to securing a shock Aspar Ducati deal.
The 22-year-old though has almost £1m in personal sponsorship to bring to a team and he’s also attracted interest from Tech 3 Yamaha.
But Tech 3 team boss Herve Poncharal confirmed to MCN that interest had cooled recently.
Bautista told the large Spanish press contingent in Brno yesterday (Thursday) that he would announce his 2010 plans immediately after Sunday’s Czech Republic GP.
A deal for him to join Suzuki is likely to leave Aussie Chris Vermeulen frozen out, with Loris Capirossi insistent that he is close to a new GSV-R deal.
The veteran Italian said: Nearly everything is clear but I just have to check some small things.”