Arm pump stumps Bautista

Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista finished first practice for the season-opening Qatar MotoGP in just 16th position after suffering arm-pump problems.

The arm-pump was caused by a new brake system and brand new gloves - both required after his huge 250km/h crash in Monday's test.

The situation did not improve during the remainder of the short 45-minute session and Bautista's best time was over 1.5 seconds behind his best test lap.

"The words I want to say cannot be used in a press release!" said Bautista. "It was an impossible practice because we wanted to try a different setting, but I had a problem with the front brake feeling right from the beginning.

After that I also had some pain in my right arm - which was probably because I had new gloves on and they were too tight - so I wasn't able to ride like I can. At the end I used the other bike, but the problem hadn't gone away. I think we need to forget today and concentrate on tomorrow because we have two more practices to improve things."