Bridgestone are looking to have taken significant steps backwards, noticeably down on grip at the beginning - and more down on grip by the end - of the race compared to Michelins.

Similarly, Ducati look to have returned to the non-form of a few years ago, only Stoner clawing his way to some sort of respectable points tally.

Pneumatic valves do seem to have helped Yamaha a bit, but not enough to hold off the "antique" spring-valve engines. And Toseland did less well with the new engine than the old.

So, Rossi's a victim of tyre problems, Stoner's a victim of bike AND tyre problems, the Pedrobot has neither but isn't getting it all his own way. Kawasaki are still waiting for this year's engine, Suzuki haven't seen a track they like yet...could be that Lorenzo really is the class of the field.

It's a long season, though and you would have to believe that it will settle down, perhaps even soon enough to make a real contest of the championship:

Estoril - 1st: Lorenzo, 2nd: Pedrosa, 3rd: Rossi, 4th: Edwards, 5th: Hopkins.

Championship lead tied at 61: Lorenzo/Pedrosa, 3rd: Rossi (47), 4th: Stoner (40), 5th: Toseland (29).

Next round at China: probably not a place to bet against Rossi winning...

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

Three races which started off interestingly and fairly soon turned processional. Notable for a lot of folk falling off in the small classes - that Bradley Smith (aged 6, unluckily ginger Brit) really needs to stop falling off on his own: calm down, chap, you're not Reuben Xaus! Also notable for pretty much everyone in MotoGP outbraking themselves into unforced errors, obviously not the easiest circuit in the world in intermediate/wet conditions. That was the last time for Shanghai, apparently, next year will be at a brand-new circuit. Not a huge loss to the racing calendar, I feel.

Rossi, not surprising anyone, took his first victory of the year - could be that Bridgestone are getting there now - but, to be honest, it was Lorenzo who deserved the honours. Huge crash in practice, broke and sprained both of his feet and ankles, survived a monumental attempted highside in qualifying to get 4th on the grid, then 4th in the race. Certainly can't argue with his determination in the face of adversity!

Toseland, for them as support him, came in at an unusually low 12th despite qualifying well, 5 places behind team-mate Edwards starting from pole. A fairly poor weekend for Tech 3.

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

To be honest, of all the racing series (except AMA) it's the one that I find least interesting. There doesn't seem to be enough depth of talent and depth of machinery around together at any one time to make it much of a competition. Nor is it helped by travelling to some of the most uniformly tedious racetracks in the world.

More than any other class, the prototype racers suffer from needing the whole package. get it right - engine, chassis, tyre and rider - and win by ten seconds every time. Get it wrong and don't even bother turning up on the grid. And the odds of more than one team getting it right on the day? Pretty slim, judging by the past couple of years.

That's not to say that there aren't ever thrilling races. But there are also a lot of extremely dull ones to wade through to find them. Something the 800s were supposed to cure: in my opinion, it's done the opposite. They seem to be so tightly-focussed and so dependent on setup that there literally is no room for error, or for rider skill to overcome it.

Catalunya, by the way, is one of the dull ones.

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

I do quite envy you having the paint to watch drying as a diversion from the racing, though!

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

I feel more sorry for Melandri than Stoner, injured and nowhere in sight, at least Capirossi had a few podiums last year and based on last years performances I would have put money on him this year. Thank feck I haven't got any otherwise I'd be well in debt by now

Sideways through time

Donington was notable (in the commentator's eyes at least) for Toseland falling off at Redgate on lap 1 and then pedalling round a lap behind everyone. Arguably, though, the more important event was Stoner's return to form.

That continued on to Holland, where he blitzed qualifying and then won the race by 10 seconds. Rossi fell off (all his own fault) at corner 1, lap 1 and pedalled round half a lap behind everyone, minus his gear lever. Fair play to him for eventually getting past Melandri and Elias, though. Good performance from Edwards again, beating Hayden's new air-valve Honda on the line (a little unfair - Hayden ran out of petrol on the last corner).

So it's all getting a bit more competitive again. Rossi's got his head around the Bridgestones in a big way now, but his tumble saw the Pedrobot take the championship lead. Stoner seems to have got his head around the Ducati (- and nobody else seems capable of riding them at all) and has closed up significantly on both the leaders. You'd probably have to say any of those three are still well in with a chance. And I wouldn't be surprised to see Hayden's new engine taking him to a win by the end of the year; he just seems very confident with it straight out of the box.

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

Again, Sachsenring is one of those rather uninteresting circuits apparently designed by a committee of people more used to putting mini-roundabouts in town centres than anything else. It's short, tight and quite hard to overtake on: all problems that damp or wet conditions exacerbate rather than improve on.

Even in the dry(ish), the 125s fairly quickly separated into small duels separated by quite large chunks of empty tarmac. A rather processional victory for di Meglio after some early interest, he strengthens his grip at the top of the table. A lot of retirees failed to follow him home, but Talmacsi made progress to the podium and a realistic chance of still contesting the championship. Two Brits (Smith and Redding) in the top ten, too.

250 gave a better showing. Shame they're being phased out for some sort of 4-stroke 600 clas (details to follow when Dorna have actually thought of them). Bautista did awesomely in the wet, from 17th on lap 1 to 3rd behind Simoncelli and Barbera at the flag. Still my favourite 250 rider, and still just about in the running for the title, with Kallio and Simoncelli just within 50 points of him.

The MotoGP class went well - if you're not a fan of small, sulky Spaniards - as Pedrosa lost a 7-second lead and certain victory by cartwheeling unexpectedly into a gravel trap. He seems to have lost hs title lead and broken a limb or two in the process. Stoner inherited first, building on his astonishing pace in practice and qualifying. Without doubt, Ducati have given him what he needed after a duff start to the season: he looks to be the man to bet on, despite a current points deficit of 20. Rossi was lucky it rained, as he was nowhere in the dry but managed a fighting second step of the podium ahead of Vermeulen (Suzuki's first decent showing of the season). Toseland managed 11th and was lapped - he still seems to be going backwards after a decent start to the season. There was a headline a while back that said he was sick of 6th place, bet he'd settle for that now! Melandri not only crashed out but is confirmed as not being on Ducati's payroll for next year.

Still, the resuts make the race sound a lot more interesting than it was. As an exercise in watching rider wet-weather skills, fair enough, as a contest...well, it wasn't.

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

Hats off to Rossi, what a steady and masterful ride, you could see Stoner on the edge virtually every lap, it was only a matter of time, pity it was a two horse race, what happened to Hayden and Edwards? JT managed to drop two places in the last two laps as well, it might just as well have been a field of two, the rest were just support racing.

Sideways through time

The grid does look thin with a few people out. Hopper's best chance of the year to shine, too. I've got to ask, though: why is it that Kawasaki race bikes, in every class, are so horribly uncompetitive? Leaving aside the odd year in Supersports, can anyone remember the last time it was actually a good thing to be riding any kind of green meanie? '93 in WSB, perhaps - although even then it was Scott Russell rather than the Muzzy Kwak that did the winning. Unless it's some kind of tax-offsetting exercise, they surely can't be happy to spend every season as also-rans...?

Some hard racing between the front two: I was surprised Rossi found the race pace. And I don't know if it's just me, but he did look to slow up more than usual the lap Stoner ended up in the gravel trying not to rear-end him. Rossi, gamesmanship? Surely not! Even so, you couldn't fault the effort he put in, couldn't argue that he deserved the win and probably would have got it even if Stoner hadn't had his off-track excursion. Still, with 7 rounds to go, I'd still say Stoner's form is better than Rossi's at the moment and he's in with avery real chance at keeping the "1" plate.

Were there any other people racing, then? Don't really recall seeing any of them after the first two corners...

>> ex silens nox noctis <<