Alex Barros

Alex Barros (born Alexandre Barros on October 18, 1970 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian motorcycle road racer. After a long career in MotoGP, for 2006 he moved to the Superbike World Championship. He returned to MotoGP for 2007, but retired by the end of the season .

Career

Early years

Barros started racing at the age of 8, when he won on his début in the Brazilian minibike championship. In the next two years, he was twice Brazilian moped champion. In 1981, he was the Brazilian 50cc Champion, and in 1985 he won the title of Brazilian's 250cc category. The year of 1986 saw his international début in the 80cc category—he lied about his age so he could race at the Spanish Grand Prix at the age of 15. He finished the championship in sixteenth place, scoring 6 points. In 1987, he also raced the 80cc championship, finishing seventeenth, scoring 8 points.

250cc

In 1988, Barros made his first race on the World Championship 250cc category, scoring no points. That same year, he was 3rd in the Latin American circuit of that same class. The next year, he finished 18th in the World Championship, scoring 30 points.

500cc and MotoGP

In 1990, Alex Barros was the youngest rider in history to join the top motorcycling category, the 500cc, at the age of 20. In his first year, he was 12th overall, with 57 points. Notable results included 8th in the United States and Germany, and 5th in the Belgium Grand Prix. Two years later, his first podium: a third place in the Netherlands.

The year of 1993 saw his breakthrough as he joined the Suzuki team. After qualifying third in the US Grand Prix, Barros had his first victory in Spain, finishing that year's world championship in sixth place. His team-mate Kevin Schwantz was that year's champion. The following year, Barros scored in all but one the races. 1996 saw his best performance yet, finishing the championship at fourth, a feat he repeated in 2000, 2001 and 2002. His win at Mugello in 2001 was the latest by a rider other than Valentino Rossi until 2009. In 2002, the first of MotoGP (with engine displacement capacity increased to up to 990cc) he scored 204 points, eleven points behind second place. 2003 was a difficult one for Barros due to injuries, but in 2004, he once again finished the championship in fourth, in a season dominated by Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau and Max Biaggi. In 2005, Barros returned to the top of the podium, at the Portuguese Grand Prix, however he did not mount a lasting championship challenge, and was not offered a ride for 2006. He returned to MotoGP in 2007, riding a Ducati GP7 for Pramac d'Antin. In pre-season testing he matched the factory Ducatis, and at midseason he was ahead of the factory rider Loris Capirossi. He came third at Mugello (ahead of Stoner) and fourth at Istanbul Park.

Superbike World Championship

For 2006 he was hired by the Klaffi Honda team in the Superbike World Championship, paying around £100,000 of his own money to fund the ride.^[1] After a satisfatctory debut weekend with 2 top 10 finishes, he took a pair of podium finishes at Round 2 in Phillip Island, and a second and a fourth in round four at Monza. At Brands Hatch he failed to qualify for Superpole, but bounced back from 18th on the grid to take a pair of top 10 finishes. The wet meeting at Assen was a disappointment for Alex, especially as he is a wet-weather expert.

His season was characterised by poor starts, but despite this he ended the season as the second highest Honda rider in the championship in sixth place, behind former champion James Toseland. At Imola he took his only WSBK win, and followed it with a 2nd in race 2.

Suzuka 8 Hours

In 1999, Barros and Japanese teammate Tadayuki Okada won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race riding a Honda RC45 superbike.^[2]

Career statistics

By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts
80 cc	1986–1987	1986 Spain	N/A	N/A	17	0	0	0	0	14
250 cc	1988–1989	1988 Brazil	N/A	N/A	14	0	0	0	0	30
500 cc	1990–2001	1990 Japan	1992 Dutch	1993 FIM	163	4	18	3	8	1347
MotoGP	2002–2005, 2007	2002 Japan	2002 Dutch	2002 Pacific	82	3	14	2	6	732
Total	1986-2005, 2007				276	7	32	5	14	2123

Complete Grand Prix motorcycle racing results ^[3]

Points system from 1969 to 1987:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Points	15	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Points system from 1988 to 1992:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Points	20	17	15	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Points system from 1993 onwards:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Points	25	20	16	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Yr	Class	Team	Machine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pts	Rank	Wins
1986	80cc	Rieju		ESP NC	NAT NC	GER 11	AUT 23	YUG NC	NED NC													6	16th	0
1986	80cc	Autisa								GBR 8	SWE -	RSM 8	BWU -									6	16th	0
1987	80cc	Casal		ESP NC	GER 11	NAT NC	AUT 8	YUG 10	NED 22	GBR -	CZE NC											8	17th	0
1987	80cc	Arbizu										RSM 7	POR NC									8	17th	0
1988	250cc	Venemotos-Yamaha	TZ250	JPN -	USA -	ESP -	EXP -	NAT -	GER -	AUT -	NED -	BEL -	YUG -	FRA -	GBR -	SWE -	CZE -	BRA NC				0	-	0
1989	250cc	Venemotos-Yamaha	TZ250	JPN NC	AUS 10	USA 16	ESP -	NAT 15	GER -	AUT 19	YUG 15	NED NC	BEL NC	FRA NC	GBR 13	SWE 9	CZE 10	BRA 10				30	18th	0
1990	500cc	Cagiva	GP500	JPN NC	USA 8	ESP NC	NAT NC	GER 8	AUT 11	YUG NC	NED 10	BEL 5	FRA NC	GBR 11	SWE 9	CZE NC	HUN 9	AUS -				57	12th	0
1991	500cc	Cagiva	GP500	JPN 10	AUS 8	USA 6	ESP -	ITA 4	GER -	AUT -	EUR -	NED 7	FRA -	GBR -	RSM -	CZE -	VDM -	MAL -				46	13th	0
1992	500cc	Marlboro-Cagiva	GP500	JPN 11	AUS 12	MAL NC	ESP 12	ITA 5	EUR 11	GER 7	NED 3	HUN 9	FRA -	GBR -	BRA 8	RSA NC						29	13th	0
1993	500cc	Lucky Strike Suzuki	RGV500	AUS 5	MAL 7	JPN 6	ESP NC	AUT 4	GER NC	NED NC	EUR 5	RSM 7	GBR NC	CZE 10	ITA 5	USA 2	FIM 1					125	6th	1
1994	500cc	Lucky Strike Suzuki	RGV500	AUS 8	MAL 7	JPN 5	ESP 4	AUT 7	GER 5	NED 2	ITA 7	FRA 6	GBR NC	CZE 8	USA 8	ARG 8	EUR 6					134	8th	0
1995	500cc	Kanemoto-Honda	NSR500	AUS 6	MAL 6	JPN NC	ESP 5	GER 7	ITA 7	NED 5	FRA 5	GBR NC	CZE 9	BRA 8	ARG 8	EUR 6						104	7th	0
1996	500cc	Pileri-Honda	NSR500	MAL 2	INA 2	JPN NC	ESP 8	ITA 6	FRA 7	NED 3	GER 8	GBR 7	AUT 5	CZE 9	IMO 8	CAT 8	BRA 5	AUS 4				158	4th	0
1997	500cc	Gresini-Honda	NSR500V	MAL 11	JPN 10	ESP 8	ITA 6	AUT 13	FRA 6	NED 6	IMO 9	GER 6	BRA NC	GBR 3	CZE 8	CAT NC	INA NC	AUS 8				101	9th	0
1998	500cc	Gresini-Honda	NSR500	JPN 7	MAL NC	ESP 5	ITA 9	FRA NC	MAD 9	NED 4	GBR 5	GER 4	CZE 3	IMO 4	CAT 7	AUS 4	ARG 3					138	5th	0
1999	500cc	MoviStar-Pons Honda	NSR500	MAL 6	JPN 8	ESP NC	FRA 10	ITA NC	CAT NC	NED 10	GBR 5	GER 8	CZE 7	IMO 2	VAL 10	AUS NC	RSA 11	BRA 4	ARG 8			110	9th	0
2000	500cc	Emerson Honda Pons	NSR500	RSA 4	MAL 8	JPN 7	ESP 5	FRA 5	ITA NC	CAT NC	NED 1	GBR 14	GER 1	CZE NC	POR 10	VAL 5	BRA 2	PAC 7	AUS 4			163	4th	2
2001	500cc	West Honda Pons	NSR500	JPN 6	RSA 9	ESP 6	FRA 8	ITA 1	CAT NC	NED 4	GBR 3	GER 5	CZE 9	POR NC	VAL 2	PAC 2	AUS 4	MAL 7	BRA 4			182	4th	1
2002	MotoGP	West Honda Pons	NSR500	JPN 6	RSA NC	ESP 5	FRA 8	ITA 5	CAT 5	NED 2	GBR 3	GER NC	CZE 9	POR 5	BRA 4							204	4th	2
2002	MotoGP	West Honda Pons	RC211V													PAC 1	MAL 3	AUS 2	VAL 1			204	4th	2
2003	MotoGP	Gauloises Yamaha Tech3	YZR-M1	JPN 8	RSA 5	ESP 5	FRA 3	ITA NC	CAT 8	NED 8	GBR INJ	GER NC	CZE 7	POR 11	BRA 12	PAC 6	MAL 15	AUS NC	VAL 6			101	9th	0
2004	MotoGP	Repsol Honda	RC211V	RSA 4	ESP 3	FRA 7	ITA 6	CAT NC	NED NC	BRA 5	GER 2	GBR 9	CZE NC	POR 3	JPN 4	QAT 4	MAL 3	AUS 5	VAL 6			165	4th	0
2005	MotoGP	Camel-Pons Honda	RC211V	ESP 4	POR 1	CHN 11	FRA NC	ITA 7	CAT 4	NED 7	USA NC	GBR 3	GER 5	CZE 4	JPN NC	MAL 8	QAT 9	AUS NC	TUR 9	VAL 5		147	8th	1
2007	MotoGP	Pramac d'Antin Ducati	GP7	QAT 9	ESP 11	TUR 4	CHN 14	FRA NC	ITA 3	CAT 8	GBR 7	NED 7	GER NC	USA 9	CZE 9	RSM NC	POR NC	JPN 8	AUS 5	MAL 12	VAL 7	115	10th	0

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alex Barros.

Preceded by Tohru Ukawa Shinichi Itoh	Suzuka 8 Hours Winner 1999 (with Tadayuki Okada)	Succeeded by Tohru Ukawa Daijiro Kato