Eurosport again have the broadcast rights (a good thing for anyone with satellite or cable, at any rate) and the rather fine commentary team of Whitham and Burnicle are back. Hoorah. Sadly, Tony Carter still gets a lot of studio time in which to bore viewers rigid, but at least some of his guests are worth listening to (Chris Walker and James Haydon last time out).

So, not unexpectedly, Haga and the Xerox Ducati are both on form and favourites for the title - although it must be said the Duke, oversize engine or not, doesn't look that fast out on track.

Ben Spies, graduating from back to back AMA titles, has proved to be disturbingly brilliant. Guess the much-hyped cross-plane crank of the Yamaha isn't just hot air. I'm surprised, given the pitifully uncompetitive nature of AMA that he's done so well against the WSB crowd already. Still don't like the bloke, though: he comes across as a dull corporate spokesperson who belongs in MotoGP withthe other product placement boys.

Biggest surprise so far is perhaps Biaggi on board the new Aprilia RSV4. That is a sorted little motorcycle (little being the operative word - it makes Max look normal-sized). Considering their last venture into racing was the evil and disastrous MotoGP Cube, lessons have obviously been learned. There again, the old WSB RSV twin of several years ago had its' moments (Troy Corser taking it to a debut victory, for example), so maybe road-based racing is their forte.

Speaking of Corser, he's made brave showings on the all-new BMW, only gradually fading back as the races have proceeded. For a completely new machine, that's not bad at all and I think Troy's the man to develop it over the season: could well be a challenger later in the year.

The grid is quite full of Britons: Haslam, Sykes, Byrne, Hill and Rea - all of whom have consistently managed points (well, Byrne got a double DNF in Australia but got back into it in Qatar) and Haslam on the Stiggy bike has already managed a podium. Good efforts all round, chaps.

The racing itself looks to be shaping up well: all four events so far have been close affairs with plenty of dicing throughout the field. I'd predict the rest of the year is likely to be just as competitive and entertaining - bring it on. I would also predict Haga for the championship, but that'll just put the whammy on his hopes, so all we'll say at this point is that - for the first time in years - he hasn't given a huge points lead to his competitors at the start of the season. In fact, he's leading...

Results:

Australia (Phillip Island) Race 1: Haga (Ducati), Neukirchner (Suzuki), Kagayama (Suzuki)

Australia (Phillip Island) Race 2: Spies (Yamaha), Haga (Ducati), Haslam (Honda)

Qatar (Losail) Race 1: Spies (Yamaha), Haga (Ducati), Biaggi (Aprilia)

Qatar (Losail) Race 2: Spies (Yamaha), Haga (Ducati), Biaggi (Aprilia)

Obviously, a pretty good mix of riders and bikes up front. Nearly there were: Checa, Kiyonari, Nakano, Laconi and Fabrizio plus several of the aforementioned Brits. It's looking good...

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