Barros bows out.
Thursday, 1st November 2007

Alex Barros won't race in MotoGP next year and will probably bring his 21-year world championship career to a close rather than have a second stab at WSBK.

Having lost his Pramac d'Antin seat for 2008, MotoGP veteran Barros admits it's now '90%' certain that he'll retire.

Barros has been here before - at the end of 2005 he was also without a MotoGP seat, despite winning a race, but was able to revive his career by switching to the World Superbike championship. Alex went on to become Brazil's first ever WSBK race winner and, despite several leading Superbike offers, secured a MotoGP return for 2007.

The 37-year-old, who lied about his age to make his grand prix debut as a 15-year-old in the 1986 80cc World championship, scored his 32nd podium position with third place in this year's Italian Grand Prix, but has been unable to repeat the performance since and d'Antin will run an all-new line-up of Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli next season.

Barros, who has started a staggering 275 grands prix, is thus left with limited options - only Team Roberts is still to announce its 2008 MotoGP rider line-up, while the leading WSBK seats are also occupied, although PSG-1 Kawasaki remains a possibility should Barros be convinced to race on.

"It's not 100 per cent that I'll stop racing, but it's 90 per cent," said Alex, who took the first of his seven premier-class victories in 1993. "Some people are still pushing for me in Superbike but I'm not fully convinced. I need to believe I can fight for wins and I'm 37 now, so when I crash it hurts a lot!

"I'm really happy with my career. I never believed I could race for 21 years in the world championship. I tried to win a world championship, I couldn't, but I'm really grateful for my career and everything motorcycle racing has given me. It's been such a pleasure. Some moments have been difficult, but life is like that. I'm just grateful to everybody who have believed in me and given me the chance to race for so long.


"There have been so many good races for me over the years, in 80cc and 250cc as well as the premier-class," reflected the easygoing #4. "Finishing second on the 500 in Holland, during the first year of MotoGP, right behind Valentino [Rossi, riding a 990] was really special for me, or finishing on the podium with the twin cylinder at Donington - I could go on for a long time!

"This is the world championship, and time passes, so I don't feel sad. I feel happy. It's really important to finish your career in good shape and I can do different things now. I have so many plans," he concluded.



Gi