There are lots of reasons to go to a MotoGP race. If your aim is to see the best riders in the world test their skill, bravery and machines to the limit on a technical track, then you go to Mugello in Italy, or Phillip Island in Australia. If your reason for going is to try and meet the riders, or at least stand a chance of getting as close to them as possible, then you head to Qatar, where the lack of crowds mean the paddock is more relaxed and less stressful, or you visit Laguna Seca, where the AMA's policy of selling paddock tickets means that for part of the weekend, you stand a chance of actually talking to your heroes.

If you're looking for a party, a chance to celebrate the joys of motorcycle racing with like-minded individuals, then you have several options. Mugello combines spectacular scenery with crowd insanity, Assen offers well-organized and efficient celebration, while the extremely low prices of beer, tickets and lodging at Brno make it an excellent choice for bike fans on a budget.

But the two MotoGP rounds which traditionally offer the most frantic partying are the two Spanish races which top and tail the season. The Jerez race, which opens the season in Europe, is sheer bedlam, as hordes of crazed Spanish motorcycle fans unleash a long winter's worth of pent-up frustration in an orgy of wine, wheelies and wanton abandon.

24 Hour Party People

At the other end of the year, the MotoGP season finale at Valencia is almost a mirror image: Vast legions of bike fans gather from all around the world to mark the end of motorcycle racing for another year. Fittingly, they party as if there were no tomorrow, and to an extent, they are right. It will be 5 long months before the MotoGP field lock horns on the track once again, and so the fans amassed at the Circuito Ricardo Tormo do their utmost to squeeze half a year's worth of partying into just three short days. So frenetic is the pace at the Valencia track and in downtown Cheste, the small town nearest to the circuit, that sometimes it can actually feel like quite hard work.

On the first two days of the race weekend, it wasn't so much the frenetic pace which took its toll on Valencia's partygoers as enduring the weather. The torrential and continuous rain turned the campsites and parking areas around the track into a mud bath, and a damp chill seeped its way into the very bones of everyone attending. On Friday and Saturday, the fans had to work a good deal harder at having a good time than they had bargained for.

It wasn't just the fans the rain had had an effect on. The MotoGP paddock, freshly disembarked off a long-haul flight from the sweltering tropics, was stupefied with shock at the change in conditions.  From getting off the bike drenched with sweat and close to heat exhaustion, the riders were now dismounting drenched by the rain, and approaching hypothermia.

It seemed like Nicky Hayden was the only rider to enjoy the conditions, leading all three rain-drenched free practice sessions by a comfortable margin. Valencia would be the Kentucky Kid's last race with Honda, and he clearly had his heart set on leaving with a good result as a thank you to his team. But more than this, he was determined to beat his team mate, after getting drawn into an ugly slanging match with Dani Pedrosa's manager, Alberto Puig.

Things Can Only Get Better

As qualifying started, things started looking up, for both fans and riders. On a mostly dry track, Nicky Hayden was once again quickest, until a very gentle rain returned. Hayden looked like he would end his 9-year stint with Honda with a pole position, but it was not to be. The weather gods had only been jesting when they sent a rain shower to taunt racing fans, and the track continued to dry.

As the qualifying session entered the final 15 minutes, Casey Stoner put on his usual demonstration of high-speed riding, snatching pole from Hayden with a lap the Kentuckian had no answer for. To make matters worse, Hayden's team mate Dani Pedrosa was the only rider capable of getting close, taking 2nd place on the grid by just 5/100ths of a second. Nicky Hayden would have to make do with starting 3rd.

If the weather had started to show its gentler side on Saturday afternoon, come Sunday morning it was doing its best to appear radiant. Clear skies welcomed fans and riders to the track, leaving the teams with a terrible dilemma. During the morning warm-up, 4 hours before the race was due to start, air and track temperatures were already well above anything experienced so far in practice. So instead of ironing out the last few minor issues on the bikes, the teams were left frantically scrabbling for as much data as possible, to at least take some of the guesswork out of setup for the race. But with track temperatures nearly 30 degrees Fahrenheit higher than during the morning warm-up, tire choice, and even bike setup, was going to be pretty much of a gamble.

Almost as much of a gamble as the first corner. With the three fastest starters on the front row of the grid, the run into Turn 1 was going to be close, and quite possibly either disastrous or decisive. The competition was either going to be too slow off the line to interfere, or was too far back on the grid to have an impact.

Among the latter group was Valentino Rossi. The 2008 World Champion had still not shaken off his Valencia jinx, getting caught out by the changing conditions during qualifying, and ending up 10th on the grid. Andrea Dovizioso was in the same boat, starting from 9th, while Jorge Lorenzo, like his Fiat Yamaha team mate, had a Valencia jinx of his own to contend with. The Spaniard had struggled all weekend, and was yet to find a setup that would make him competitive.

Drag Strip

So in theory, the top 3 looked settled even before the bikes had turned a wheel in anger. But as the red lights faded on a warm Sunday afternoon, and the skies filled with the banshee wail of 230 horsepower MotoGP bikes roaring away from the line for the last time in 2008, practice turned out to be a good deal more convoluted than theory had predicted.

The front three were away quickest as expected, Dani Pedrosa getting the drop on Casey Stoner, while Nicky Hayden followed close behind. But as they lined up to tip into the fast first corner, Hayden suddenly found Colin Edwards sitting on the ideal line, the Texas Tornado having gotten a whirlwind start and flying into Turn 1 in 3rd, forcing Hayden to relinquish a place.

There were two things the field dreaded in this race. The first was that Casey Stoner would get a flying start and escape, never to be seen again. Fortunately for the rest of the field, this was not to be the case. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, what prevented this scenario was the other thing which had terrified them: Dani Pedrosa had taken a flying start, and just as at Jerez and Barcelona this year, was ahead into Turn 1 and ready to build a lead.

If this prospect had worried the field, it was one Casey Stoner was not prepared to countenance. But unlike the rest of the pack, Stoner was well placed to do something about it, and as they braked for the sharp hairpin at Turn 2, the Australian made his move. Jamming his Ducati up the inside and ahead of Pedrosa's Honda, resplendent in its beautiful Repsol 40th anniversary livery, Stoner was past and into the lead.

Behind Pedrosa, Colin Edwards was holding off Nicky Hayden, while Andrea Dovizioso pressed from behind. But Edwards wasn't the only Yamaha to have gotten a good start. Valentino Rossi had simply rocketed away from the start, gaining two places on the run into the first turn, and another along the short straight heading into Turn 2. Though still with plenty of work to do, if Rossi could dispense with a few more riders quickly enough, he might be able to catch the leaders, and finally dispel the jinx.

If Rossi had any such ambitions, he needed to get a move on. A gap had already opened up to 6th, Dovizioso starting to drop Loris Capirossi, and that gap was growing at every corner. What's more, John Hopkins was complicating matters by diving up the inside of Rossi into Turn 4, and forcing The Doctor down into 8th.

Rossi made short shrift of Hopper, sliding neatly up the inside of the American's Kawasaki as they flicked left at Turn 7, ready for the hairpin at Turn 8, and set about chasing Capirossi's Suzuki once again.

Not So Fast

Though the pack may have feared Casey Stoner leading from the start, as they screamed across the line at the end of the first lap, their fears looked to be overblown. Stoner still led from Dani Pedrosa, but it was as part of a pack of 5, rather than just 2. Colin Edwards was closing on the tail of Pedrosa, while Nicky Hayden was doing everything he could to try and find a way past from 4th, and Andrea Dovizioso sat weighing his options in 5th.

Hayden was too far behind down the front straight to try to pass Edwards into Turn 1, so instead, he carried as much speed as possible through that first left hander to line himself up for Turn 2. Pulling left, the American stuffed his Repsol Honda up the inside of his compatriot's Tech 3 Yamaha, and was through into 3rd.

The move was brave, and just a fraction too abrupt. Hayden ran wide on the exit, allowing Edwards back through the left kink of Turn 3. But the Kentucky Kid wasn't done yet. Running wide at Turn 2 had left him on the ideal line to grab 3rd back from Edwards, with another robust move up into the first right-hander of the circuit. Edwards immediately tried to come back on Hayden again, but it was too late, Hayden was through.

The squabble over the right to chase the leaders had given Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa a hint of breathing space. They did not need a second invitation, and by the time the pack crossed the line for the second time, Nicky Hayden was trailing 2nd place man Pedrosa by nearly a second.

Dropped from the front, the fight for 3rd had also allowed Loris Capirossi and Valentino Rossi to close up from the rear. In one lap, the leaders had gone from a group of 5+2 to a group of 2+5, the field rapidly being torn apart.

Forward Motion

Rossi was a man on a mission. After failing to find a setup during practice, his crew had clearly found something during the warm-up as he was on a charge. Though he'd had a peek at Capirossi going into Turn 1, he was just too far back for a viable attempt at a pass. But three corners later he pounced, diving up the inside of the Suzuki into 6th place through Turn 4, in a manner all too reminiscent of Hayden's pass on Edwards a lap ago.

Capirex was not to be the Italian's last victim. As the bikes entered the braking zone at end of the front straight, Rossi's wildly dangling leg gave an indication of his intentions: the longer it is waved, the harder he is on the brakes, and going into Turn 1, it was out for an age. Dovizioso didn't stand a chance, and though he attempted to retaliate into Turn 2, was forced to relinquish 5th to The Doctor.

At the front, Casey Stoner was showing how serious he was about winning this race. By lap 3, Stoner was within a few hundredths of lap record pace, and 2 laps later was nearly 2/10ths under it. The previous holder of that record could not get near and was starting to lose touch, Stoner creeping away a tenth of a second at a time. By lap 6, Stoner's lead was up over a second, and after a mistake cost Pedrosa several tenths on the next lap, the gap was up to 1.8 seconds.

Pedrosa's mistake galvanized the Spaniard into a counterattack. Pedrosa put his head down and pushed his Repsol Honda even harder, eking back time a tenth of a second a lap. But there was only so much his tires would take, and by the halfway mark, Pedrosa's times crept up again, and Stoner started to extend his lead.

Italian American

While the battle for 1st looked to be settled early, the fight for 3rd still had some life in it.  Early on, Hayden seemed to have a firm grip on the position, as Colin Edwards was forced to contend with first Andrea Dovizioso and then Valentino Rossi breathing down his neck. But little by little, the Texan started to slowly reel Hayden back in.

Far too slowly for Dovizioso and Rossi. Rossi harried the Texan all through lap 4 and lap 5, even attempting a desperate dive up the inside into Turn 14, the final tight left hander leading onto the front straight. That move failed, but a kilometer later, the next one didn't. Once again waving his left leg to signal his intention to pass, Rossi was up the inside of Edwards on the brakes, and ahead into Turn 1.

Still reeling from the Rossi move, Edwards was given no time to recover. On the short run up to Turn 2, Dovizioso followed Rossi's lead, and pushed Edwards down into 6th. The Texan had lost two places in the space of just two corners.

With one hurdle taken, Rossi was immediately on to the next. The Italian was onto Hayden through the two right handers, and barging his way past into Turn 6, as they headed off down the back straight. And just as when Rossi passed Edwards, Dovizioso was following.

This time, Dovi wasn't close enough to stuff his Scot Honda up the inside of Hayden's factory bike, at Turn 8, but that didn't prevent him trying. Rebuffed at the left-hand hairpin, the Italian satellite rider tried again at the right-hand hairpin of Turn 11. Hayden seemed intent on teaching Dovizioso that no really does mean no: If his rebuff at Turn 8 was firm, at Turn 11, it was brutal, clipping across the nose of the Italian, who had only managed to get his front wheel level with Hayden's rear brake lever, not enough for a pass.

Dovizioso was only temporarily chastened. The Italian crept back on to Hayden's back wheel round the long left arc of Turn 13, before slicing inside the American into the tight Turn 14, and up into 4th.

Now that they were both past Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso could turn their attentions to the men ahead. But the battle for 3rd had taken up too much of their time, and Stoner and Pedrosa were already over 4 seconds ahead. With a clear track ahead of him, Rossi started lapping 3/10ths quicker than before, but that was only enough to staunch his losses to the leaders.

Party Poopers

The race was run. By one quarter distance, the order of the field had been settled, and for the rest of the race the field was slowly stretched out like well-chewed piece of gum. As the laps counted down, the crowd fell silent, while the world's fastest motorcycle racers on the world's fastest motorcycles flew past them at high speed, the gaps between them growing.

The fans had come for fireworks, but as hard as the riders worked - and they were giving it everything they had - they would see none on track. No last lap do-or-die attempt at passing, leading to a huge crash and a heroic remount, as in the 250 class. No five-man battle to the line like in the 125s, with three men into the last corner with a fair shot at winning. Just a high-speed procession of talent and engineering, fit only to fire the passions of engineers and the hardest of hardcore MotoGP fans.

As Casey Stoner crossed the line to take his 6th win of the season, the crowd finally got the fireworks they had been waiting for, but they were the paper-and-gunpowder type, rather than on-track shootouts. Finally aroused by the noise, the crowd roared its approval, appreciative of the astonishing speed with which the man who relinquished his world title could ride his Ducati, but perhaps even more appreciative of the fact that the whole charade was over, and the serious business of partying could begin.

This is, in part, Stoner's tragedy. The Australian is without doubt the fastest man in the world, and the connoisseurs of motorcycle racing are left open-mouthed in wonder at just how close to the edge Stoner manages to push his Ducati. In another near-perfect race, Casey Stoner had not so much spanked the field as bludgeoned them to death with a house brick, smashing the lap record, leading his nearest rival by nearly 5 seconds on the penultimate lap, all with a broken scaphoid that might yet finish his career. Stoner only led the world championship race once, after the very first race at Qatar, yet the Australian pushed Rossi harder than he had ever been pushed before.

Deep Space

Stoner's last lap celebrations allowed Dani Pedrosa to reduce the scale of his defeat by a second, but that could not disguise the fact that even at his home track, he had been comprehensively outclassed at Valencia. Once Stoner had gotten past, Pedrosa had had nothing for the Australian and had concentrated on riding fast and smooth all the way home.

But the Spaniard's 2nd place was confirmation of his status as the 3rd best rider on the grid. Pedrosa has taken an astonishing 12 podiums this year, 1 more than the man who beat him. His weakness has been his inability to win regularly, only managing 2 wins this season, despite a raft of 2nd and 3rd place finishes. More encouragingly, he has learned quickly since switching to Bridgestones, and at least some of his lack of victories could possibly be put down to his problems with Michelins, and his adaptation process to the new Japanese rubber.

The only place that Valentino Rossi has shown an inability to win is here at Valencia. A messy qualifying session and problems with his race setup meant that Rossi started the race too far back to have a realistic chance of victory, but 10th on the grid did not stop the 2008 World Champion from slashing his way forward to finish 3rd, and take his 16th podium of the year. The only time Rossi has been off the podium has at his first race on Bridgestones, and after a stupid mistake at Assen, crashing out while trying to make good too many places off the grid.

The remarkable thing is that Valencia is supposed to be a track that it's hard to pass at, as witnessed by the lack of passing elsewhere in the field. But it didn't stop Rossi getting past 7 other riders in just 5 laps. Perhaps if the grid were reversed, we'd see a lot more passing in MotoGP.

Andrea Dovizioso finished 4th at Valencia, after following Rossi's example. Like the newly-crowned World Champion, Dovi seems to be able to pass almost at will, having fought his way up from 9th on the grid. Dovizioso has proven to be a prodigious talent this year, his skills honed by being forced to race both here and in the 250s on inferior machinery. Next year, the Italian will be on the factory Repsol Honda, and any disadvantages he may have had will be wiped out. It will be fascinating to see just how well he copes.

Out Of Here

In 5th place was the man who had dominated in the wet. Nicky Hayden didn't leave Repsol Honda on the high that he might have wanted, but he certainly left with his head held high. He didn't beat his team mate, but beating someone as fast as Dani Pedrosa is a lot to ask at his home race. Hayden might miss his crew, but he won't miss his team when he walks into the Ducati garage on Monday.

Colin Edwards finished his final race of the season a respectable 6th, much where he has been for the last four races. The Tech 3 Yamaha man had hoped for much more this season, and podiums at Le Mans and Assen seemed to show that might have been possible. Edwards has complained about the Michelins for the latter half of the season, and now the series will be switching to a single tire, he must be hoping that will make him competitive.

The top 6 riders were separated by 32 seconds, Dovizioso and Hayden the closest with just a couple of ticks between them. The race had been won in the second corner, and any passing in the top 6 was done by lap 6. At the front of the field, this had not been MotoGP's finest hour, and as so often, any fun to be had was further down field.

Shinya Nakano bowed out of MotoGP, most likely bound for the Aprilia Superbike ride alongside Max Biaggi, with a decent 7th place. Since being given the factory-spec spring valve engine at Brno, Nakano's results had improved significantly, and though he never recovered the form he had in 250s or when riding the Kawasaki, he showed he could still ride.

In 8th, Jorge Lorenzo was both satisfied and disappointed. The Spanish rider, who wrapped up the Rookie Of The Year title at Valencia, had started the weekend in awful position and things had barely improved through qualifying. But after a miserable start, Lorenzo had fought his way back up the field, to at least bring home some points. This was not the ending of the season Lorenzo had been hoping for, but early on in the weekend, things had been looking a lot worse.

Loris Capirossi finished 9th, struggling after the soft front tire he had chosen started to lose grip. Both Capirossi and Suzuki had been expecting more, but tire choice and a lack of horsepower had left Capirex unable to do much better.

Alex de Angelis rounded out the top 10, a positive achievement after starting from 16th on the grid. The man from San Marino finished as the weakest of the MotoGP rookies this year, but given the class of the other two newcomers to the series acquitted himself well. De Angelis obviously has a lot of potential, but has only managed to realize it on a few occasions during the year.

The Thick Of The Action

MotoGP's problems were highlighted by the men who finished 11th to 15th. A fierce battle had raged for most of the race, providing most of the day's entertainment. But it is difficult to get as excited about a scrap for 11th - no matter how entertaining - as a battle for the lead. All season long there have been multiple rider fights over the middle order positions, many of which have been fantastic to watch. But these battles go largely untelevised and unreported, and end up consigned to the scrapheap of history, as all we remember are the processions shown at the front.

James Toseland came out on top of the multi-man scrimmage, taking 11th place in the final race of a mixed debut season. The British rookie brought some of his World Superbike ways with him when he entered MotoGP, and they weren't always particularly appreciated. Used to close-quarters combat with the likes of Troy Bayliss and Noriyuki Haga, Toseland wasn't afraid to barge in front of other riders and take their places.

Compared to the formalized combat of the MotoGP series, Toseland often appeared to be bringing a broadsword to a fencing match. Where the MotoGP riders are accustomed to scything through the field with rapier-like precision, the double World Superbike champion would bludgeon his way forward with flail and mace, equally effective, but a good deal more intimidating.

Sylvain Guintoli finished up his MotoGP career in 12th aboard the Alice Ducati. The amiable Frenchmen never really got on with the Desmosedici, and will be working his way back towards the world stage via British Superbikes. He proved at least that nice guys don't necessarily come last, but at Valencia, he was only 6 places ahead of that.

Like his Rizla Suzuki team mate, Chris Vermeulen suffered tire issues, this time from going with a hard tire rather than a soft tire. The Suzuki team gambled on tires, and like most gamblers, found that they had lost. 13th was all that Vermeulen could manage at Valencia.

The Horror, The Horror

His one consolation was that he finished ahead of his former team mate. John Hopkins must go home after every weekend, stare at his bank balance, and wonder if it was all worth it. Even without the horrific injuries he has suffered this season, crashing at Assen, and during testing at Phillip Island, 2008 has been disastrous for John Hopkins. The Kawasaki has been terrible this year, after looking promising in 2007. Hopper will be hoping that Team Green get their act together over the winter and bring a more competitive bike next year.

Randy de Puniet came home in 15th, but more importantly, finished his 5th race in a row. The LCR Honda rider almost looked like he had returned to his old ways early on in the race, when he ran on at the end of the back straight. But the Frenchman rejoined the race in last position, and fought his way up into the points.

At first glance, Marco Melandri's 16th place finish looks like just another dire result in a terrible year aboard the factory Ducati. But Melandri was actually doing pretty well, and was one of the few men capable of battling his way forward through the pack at Valencia. Only a problem with his gearbox got in the way of what would have been only his 4th top 10 finish of the season. Melandri was surely delighted to close the door to the Ducati garage behind him on Sunday night.

Ant West will be less pleased to leave Kawasaki, and his dream of MotoGP, behind. But West has had the same problems that Hopper suffered with all season, but doesn't have the American's marketability to help save his career. West will be off to World Supersport next year, and a chance to rebuild his confidence with a few wins.

Like Melandri, Toni Elias will have been delighted to shut the door of the Alice Ducati garage behind him on Sunday night. Elias has had an up-and-down year, getting on the podium twice, whilst failing spectacularly elsewhere. Valencia was clearly in the category of spectacular failures, and it was fairly obvious from Elias' lap times that by the end of the race, all the fight had gone out of the tiny Spaniard. Next year sees a return to the bosom of the Gresini Honda team, and factory equipment. Surely he will do better there.

The Party That Wasn't

The season finale at Valencia is supposed to be a huge party, a vast celebration of the spectacle that is MotoGP. But like so many parties which require meticulous planning, the devil is in the detail. The miserable weather was not conducive to celebration, but Dorna and the organizers could do little about that. But the state of exhaustion in the paddock, the result of a road trip taking in five races in six weekends spread across four continents, made it hard for riders and teams to get into the mood to party.

The most worrying aspect is of course the racing. What Dorna - and every motorcycle racing fan along with them - really want is to come to the final Grand Prix of the season and see spectacular racing. But the cocktail of the Valencia track, where passing is difficult; the 800cc MotoGP bikes, which lack torque; traction control systems, which helps correct mistakes; and last but very far from least, the astonishing levels of grip and durability offered by modern racing tires, has made for processional racing, and left MotoGP partygoers coldly sober, having already forgotten what happened.

Work started on fixing this problem on Monday, as MotoGP entered a new world of a single tire supplier, providing harder tires with less grip, meant to slow people down and close up the field. At the end of the day, the top 3 during testing was identical to the top 3 in the race the day before, and Casey Stoner had gone even faster during testing than his lap record from Sunday's race. The gaps between the fastest laps of each rider during testing followed an almost identical pattern to the gaps seen during the race on Sunday. On the - admittedly all too brief - evidence so far, the cure isn't working. 

There is always something bittersweet about the Valencia round of MotoGP. The final race is at once both apogee and perigee, zenith and nadir, as befits the culmination of any experience which marks its fans as deeply as MotoGP does. The last chance to party with fellow fans, and the last chance to watch, hear and feel the awe-inspiring sights and sounds of the 18 fastest, loudest, most technologically advanced motorcycles in the world tear around a racetrack at dizzying speeds. Valencia is always part birthday celebration, part funeral wake, as fans and followers celebrate the passing of another astounding season.

For many people, this year's end-of-season party at Valencia will be more like a wake than at any time in recent history. Sure, there were tears of nostalgia when the two strokes went, to be shed once again at the demise of the 990s. But on each of those occasions, there was also hope and curiosity, waiting to see what the new bikes that replaced them would bring.

2009, though, will be different. For once the bikes pull into the pit lane after the race on Sunday, MotoGP will cease to be a purely prototype series and will open the door to spec equipment and standardization. The imposition of a single tire manufacturer with the authority to dictate which tires the teams will use marks the end of an era. Once, anyone with the desire, the ability and the funds could manufacture whole motorcycles or individual components, and as long as they complied with certain basic rules and specifications, any team sensing an advantage could use them. But that is now gone.

Waving The Flag

Supporters of the change quite rightly point out that tires, while incredibly important, are the least interesting part of a racing motorcycle to the vast majority of fans. They say that merely instituting a single tire rule can hardly be construed as an assault on the principle of prototype engineering, and that the tires are the part of the racing machine which the motorcycle manufacturers are least associated with. Nobody was ever a fan of a tire company, they say, a claim which Bridgestone and Michelin might publicly decry, while privately admitting.

But concerns over safety and cost have prevailed, and in an attempt to at least slow up the ever-increasing speeds the 800cc bikes were capable of, Dorna felt it had to act. The deal was done at Motegi, Bridgestone were awarded the contract at Sepang, and at Valencia, after 20 years of dominance, Michelin tires will roll out onto a MotoGP race track for the last time, never to return.

At least they will be in with a chance of bowing out in style. The Valencia track has always been kind to Michelin, and Bridgestone have only beaten them here once, when Troy Bayliss romped to victory on a wildcard Ducati after taking his 2nd World Superbike championship in 2006. Even last year, the year in which Michelin had their worst season for decades, Dani Pedrosa took a resounding win on French rubber, showing that Michelin could be competitive when they wanted to, and helping rekindle faith in the company.

This Looks Familiar

Pedrosa's win was in part down to the experience the tire companies have at the track. The Ricardo Tormo circuit always kicks off the winter test season on the day after the final race, and being situated near Spain's temperate Mediterranean coast, has a climate which is mild and dry enough to allow testing to take place in early spring.

While the climate makes it perfect for testing, the location makes the Circuito Ricardo Tormo perfect for racing. Just half an hour from Valencia, Spain's third largest city, and three hours from Madrid and Barcelona, the numbers 1 and 2 in that league, the circuit is a Mecca for the crazed Spanish racing fans.

And the physical geography of the track makes it a fantastic spot for those fans to spectate at. The track sits in a bowl of low hills which form a natural amphitheater where MotoGP's gladiators gather to do battle. Seated upon the slopes of the hills overlooking the circuit, spectators can see almost the entire track, and follow all of the action no matter where it takes place.

The first point of engagement is Turn 1, at the end of the surprisingly long front straight. If you've been hearing the roar of another bike behind as you race down the straight, this is the place they will pull out of your draft and try to bump past you on the brakes. But passing here is risky: Turn 1 is not quite 90 degrees and very wide, and as a consequence, pretty fast. Carry too much speed into the corner trying to get past somebody and you risk a very fast and very painful tumble, as you run wide and hit the gravel at high speed.

Too Cool For School

After a short straight, the first hairpin looms, followed by a left kink, the third left hander in a row. But more danger lurks at Turn 4, the first right hander since halfway round the track on the previous lap. By the time you turn in for the corner here, the right-hand side of your tire is starting to cool and grip levels can be deceptively low. Coming off a series of turns which have gotten the left side of your tire nice and sticky, it's all too easy to go in too hot expecting grip, only to contemplate your miscalculation in the gravel trap after lowsiding off.

Another slow right brings you up to Turn 6, and on towards the most technical and most interesting section of the Valencia circuit. Out of 6, you enter the short back straight, short-shifting up to 150 mph, before leaning the bike over for the left hand kink and getting hard on the brakes for Turn 8.

After the tight right-hand hairpin, the track doubles back on itself, and you flick the bike left and right, ready to enter the slowest corner on the track and a place where those brave enough will try to come underneath you on the brakes. If you get through Turn 11 unscathed, then it's on to the most spectacular part of the circuit.

Broadside

The hairpin takes you along another short straight, gathering speed before braking hard again for a right kink, then the endless curve of Turn 13. This long, long left hander turns you through nearly 90 degrees, but it takes an awful long time to do it. What's more, as the corner closes up for the tight right hander leading on to the straight, it drops away underneath you, leaving you with the front pushing and the rear hung out struggling for grip.

But like all great corners, the truly difficult turns are where great riders can make the difference. If you can slide the rear smoothly round that endless left, then you are lined up perfectly for a dive up the inside into the final hairpin, Turn 14. A brave rider will close down the man ahead along the long left and barge his way ahead into the hairpin. But get it wrong, and both you and the man you are trying to pass end up in the gravel, you cursing your luck, your opponent cursing you.

Perhaps the most spectacular of riders around that most spectacular of corners is Nicky Hayden. Having grown up on dirt tracks, the American has no equal when it comes to fast left turns with the rear end stepping out. Hayden is fantastic to watch at Valencia every year, but 2008 could be something special.

For the Valencia race is the end of an era for Hayden as well. It will be his last race on a Honda, having been with the factory for nearly 10 years and with the Repsol Honda team in MotoGP since 2003. Hayden's results have suffered since the introduction of the 800s in the year after he won his world title, and he has only just returned to his old form over the past few races. He would really like to leave Honda by giving his team a win, as a thank you for the years of support and hard work.

That's the official line. The unofficial, though barely concealed line is that Hayden wants a win to rub his team mate's - or rather, his team mate's manager's - nose in it. Over the past few weeks, Nicky Hayden has been engaged in an uncharacteristic war of words with Alberto Puig and has a few scores to settle. There are lots of reasons why Hayden wants to win, but beating Dani Pedrosa is right at the top of that list. Helping Michelin beat Bridgestone, after not being given the choice to switch when his team mate switched tires would be the icing on the cake.

Home Boy

But beating Dani Pedrosa at Valencia is no easy task. The Spaniard has won the two other MotoGP rounds held in Spain this year and is looking for both a hat trick at home, and his first win on Bridgestone tires. A win at Valencia would be a vindication of his decision to push for a switch of tires mid-season.

And it's a vindication he badly needs. Now that MotoGP will be going to a single tire and the tires supplied will be very different to the ones currently on offer, if Pedrosa can't conjure up a win, then he will have wasted an awful lot of political capital on a meaningless change. There are already rumblings that Honda have given Pedrosa one more year to win a championship before being politely shown the door, but a win in front of Repsol's home audience aboard the tires he pushed so hard to get might just buy him a reprieve.

Though Pedrosa showed last year quite emphatically that he knows how to win at Valencia, he'll be facing stiff competition come Sunday. If it was Casey Stoner who made Pedrosa work for his victory in 2007, the Australian, and still reigning World Champion, is unlikely to put up too much of a fight this year.

With the title lost, Stoner is focusing on testing next year's Ducati GP9 early next week. Still suffering with a cracked scaphoid, and due for a bone graft later next week, Stoner won't want to risk aggravating the injury and missing out on testing. In fact, he is not even certain that he will be racing on Sunday, having told the press that he would see how his wrist held up on Friday and Saturday. With the weather looking uncertain and very little at stake, Stoner may well decide to sit out the race and wait for Monday.

In A Glass Darkly

Casey Stoner's wrist injury neatly reverses the situation from last year. In 2007, Valentino Rossi was unable to put up much of a fight due to an injured wrist, while Stoner pushed Pedrosa for the win for much of the race. This year, the tables are turned, and it is Rossi who is most likely to challenge Pedrosa for victory.

With Rossi in insatiable form this year, and his 6th MotoGP title under his belt, you would think the Italian would be the man to beat. But Valencia has been cruel to Rossi over the years, and The Doctor has not disguised his lack of affection for the circuit. Last year, he crashed and fractured his wrist during practice, while the year before, he slid off at Turn 2 dumping his hopes of crowning an astonishing MotoGP comeback with a world title into the gravel.

Add this to other practice crashes - including destroying a special anniversary bike during qualifying in 2005 - and Rossi's run of bad luck at Valencia is long and ominous. But the one certainty in MotoGP is that you can never bet against The Doctor. If Rossi can stay focused, and stay on board, then the 2008 World Champion may just chalk up his 10th win of the season.

Like his team mate, Jorge Lorenzo would like to win at Valencia too. And like his team mate, the track has not brought the Spaniard much luck, 2005 being the last time he appeared on a podium here. After a mid-season slump as a result of the huge crashes he had earlier, Lorenzo has recovered his form over the past few races, with two podium finishes and two 4th places. Sepang was Lorenzo's worst result since the summer, crashing out while in the group battling for 3rd.  Now competitive once again, Lorenzo will be out to break his Valencia jinx.

Just When You Least Expected It

The surprise package at Valencia may well turn out to be Suzuki. John Hopkins finished on the podium here last year in his last race on the GSV-R, and the track suits the nature of the bike. Though down on top speed, the Suzuki turns well and can get close enough out of the final corner to draft the riders ahead down the front straight, while making use of the bike's ability to change direction around the many tight turns in the stadium section of the circuit.

And Loris Capirossi's record here is strong as well. On the 800cc Ducati, the bike he struggled with all through 2007, Capirossi finished 5th, having been 2nd the year previously behind his temporary team mate Troy Bayliss. If there is ever a dark horse at Valencia, it is surely Loris Capirossi.

Chris Vermeulen isn't too shabby here either. After an up-and-down season, with podiums one week, while struggling into the top 10 the next, Vermeulen would like to end his season on a high. At tracks where the Suzuki works, Vermeulen could raise a few eyebrows.

His former team mate and the man who finished 3rd here last year is unlikely to feature at Valencia. The 2008 season has been disastrous for Kawasaki, and John Hopkins must be questioning the wisdom of his move. Hopper's season has been plagued by injury, but even more, by the complete failure of the ZXRR Ninja to be competitive. Hopkins may want to end the season on a high, but on a Kawasaki, that means being in with a chance of the top 10.

If Hopper has had a bad season on the Kawasaki, Ant West's year has been absolutely awful. At least Hopkins' switch to Kawasaki made the American a lot of money: West ended up badly out of pocket, as last year, he had to buy out the contract he had just signed with Yamaha to finish the 2007 World Supersport season. From double race winner on a Supersport last year, West has gone to perennial backmarker in 2008.

Just how low West has sunk was apparent in an interview he gave to the Italian magazine Motosprint last week. The only objective he felt was achievable, he revealed, was to end the season beating his team mate and Marco Melandri. With West out of MotoGP and back to World Supersport for 2009, he should be able to go back to being a winner once again. We can only hope so, for fate has been cruel indeed to Ant West so far.

Out Of The Frying Pan

Many questions have been asked of Marco Melandri's decision to take the ride that West is leaving behind. The most cynical of observers remark that at least Melandri can be sure of moving up one place, as West was often the only man ahead of Melandri at the end of the race. But with an offer on the table of factory support from Honda, the mystery remains why he chose to move to the team which has done so terribly all year. Melandri's 2008 season may have been the absolute low point for him, but on current form, 2009 aboard a Kawasaki is hardly likely to be much better.

Shinya Nakano's decision to take a Kawasaki ride - at least, if the latest rumors of the on-again-off-again third Kawasaki on the grid actually turn out to be true this time - is much more understandable. A Kawasaki ride is the only option Nakano has if he is to stay in the series and not end up in a testing role for Honda. But whether a 2009 ride materializes for the Japanese veteran or not, Nakano will be doing his utmost at Valencia. Nakano has seen his results buck up since receiving the factory-spec spring valve engine for his Gresini Honda RC212V, and he will be trying to wring the very last drop out of it if he is to impress potential employers for next year.

For Sylvain Guintoli, there is only pride at stake. Out of MotoGP for next year, the Frenchman will be hoping for a repeat of his performance from 2007. Qualifying 5th on the Dunlop-shod Tech 3 Yamaha, Guintoli managed to get the satellite spec Tech 3 Yamaha home in 11th, well ahead of his erstwhile team mate. While the package he had this year was superior to last year's Yamaha, the Ducati GP8 has not been an easy beast to tame. Guintoli will be hoping for one last hurrah before he heads off to British Superbikes.

Things are less urgent for Toni Elias. Like his Alice Ducati team mate, this will be his last outing aboard the GP8, but unlike Guintoli, Elias will be staying in MotoGP, returning to the bosom of his former team Gresini Honda. With the pressure off and in front of his home crowd, Elias may yet shine at Valencia, but at a track he has no particular affection for, he may choose instead to take it easy and focus on the testing that is to begin on Monday.

Turn Around

Elias' future team mate Alex de Angelis will be hoping for an upturn in his fortunes. The San Marinese rider has suffered a string of bad results, including a number of crashes, in a highly erratic rookie season. With two 4th places to his name, de Angelis has shown he can ride, but all too often he has also shown he can crash when pushing too hard. The Valencia track is the circuit where Alex de Angelis won his only 250 race, and he could cause a surprise if he can keep out of the gravel traps.

Randy de Puniet's season has been similar to Alex de Angelis in many ways. Both men can be extremely fast, but both men have a penchant for destroying bikes by pushing too hard and cartwheeling out of contention. De Puniet has finished the last 4 races in a row, his longest streak of the year. If he can avoid crashing his LCR Honda at Valencia, he can extend that streak a little longer.

While Randy de Puniet and Alex de Angelis are staying put for next year, Andrea Dovizioso will be moving up to possibly the most coveted and the most feared ride of the paddock. The Italian, who has pushed Jorge Lorenzo hard for the title of Rookie of the Year, despite being forced to pit his satellite Honda against Lorenzo's factory Yamaha, will be trading his Team Scot Honda for a factory Repsol bike on Monday. But team mate to Dani Pedrosa is a hard furrow to plough, as Nicky Hayden can attest to.

With his first MotoGP podium finally under his belt from last week's race at Sepang, he will be even more motivated to finish the season on a high. And the skills he has developed over the past three years, first on the underpowered Honda 250, then on the underpowered satellite Honda RC212V, will stand him on good stead. For the ability to draft faster riders, then pass and hold them off on the brakes is exactly what it takes to win at Valencia. The 3rd place Dovi scored at Sepang last week might just end up being  a harbinger of more to come in Spain.

Past And Future

The two members of the Tech 3 Yamaha team will head into their final race on Michelins with very different feelings. Colin Edwards will be heading into the unknown and a completely different situation. Edwards was always Michelin's lead tire developer and has had an excellent relationship with the company since his years in World Superbikes. But with the disappearance of Michelin from MotoGP, Edwards' position will be significantly weakened and he will have much less input into the direction the tires take.

Fortunately for Edwards, however, the new tire rules could well end up suiting him. Edwards has spent a lot of time testing tires and getting them to work. His development experience with Michelin might just help him in setting up the Yamaha to work with the new Bridgestones next year.

With an uncertain future, Edwards will be trying for a good result at Valencia to thank Michelin for the years of effort the tire maker have put in. But Edwards history at Valencia is not a good one: The American has been a solidly mid-pack rider at the circuit. The Texan will be hoping for more on Sunday.

While Edwards may be heading into uncharted territory, for James Toseland, it is a step back in time. The multi-talented Briton has years of experience with a single tire, having used them in the World Superbike series. So Toseland knows what he can expect next year, and in theory, should be among the quickest riders to adapt.

But as much as he will be hoping for better from next year, first Toseland has unfinished business at Valencia. The Yorkshireman had a win here last year on his way to clinching his second World Superbike championship, and will be hoping to repeat that feat here this year. Though a win looks to be out of the question, with a bit of luck, JT could finally do better than the long string of 6th places he has had.

Eat, Drink And Be Merry

The Valencia MotoGP round always feels vaguely as if the end of the world is approaching, with fans partying wildly as if there were no tomorrow, riders giving their all one last time in the hope of making a better impression than they might deserve given the rest of the season, and most of the paddock bidding their fond farewells as if they were never to see one another again. This year, though, that feeling will be stronger, as the paddock bids farewell not just to the Michelin engineers who have helped them win championships for the past 25 years, but also to the sense that MotoGP was the final prototype series, the last bastion holding out against a rising tide of single tire regulations.

But like most prognostications of apocalypse, those preaching the end of the world are likely to be wrong. Though MotoGP has finally caved in and become a single tire series, that doesn't mean the end of development. In reality, all the time spent developing tires in search of ever more grip will be spent elsewhere, on suspension, on chassis rigidity, on electronics.

After two or three years of slower lap times, the chassis and electronics engineers will start to work their way around the limitations imposed by the inferior tires, and get back the grip they lost when competition between tire companies was killed. Corner speeds will skyrocket, lap times will drop, and Dorna, the FIM and the MSMA will be left looking for another avenue to slow the bikes down in the name of safety.

More rules will be introduced to limit some other part of the bikes - a spec ECU, a ban on electronic suspension, specific rules on chassis stiffness, narrower wheel rims - and at the final MotoGP race at Valencia, the whole paddock will be cast into mourning once again. The cycle of racing evolution, where the regulators make the rules while the engineers find ways of making those rules irrelevant as quickly as possible, will start all over again.

But all that is in the future. The 2009 MotoGP season may start on Monday, but first there's the final race of the 2008 season to contest. With most of the field with nothing to lose and a point to make, the 2008 Valencia MotoGP round has all the ingredients of a thrilling race. Everyone has a final chance on Sunday, and most of them are chomping at the bit to seize it.
 

Motorcycle racing - in case you hadn't noticed - is an outdoor activity. And despite the Herculean efforts of the organizers to attempt to control as many aspects of the sport as possible in the name of safety, cost and spectacle, that still leaves motorcycle racing at the mercy of the elements.

That does not prevent them from trying. At Qatar, a vast forest of lighting masts lit up the night, turning night into something not far from being day, and allowing the race to be held in the cool of the evening, rather than under the blistering heat of the Arabian sun.

That dazzling display of technological hubris did not go unpunished, however. Though MotoGP escaped the heat of the day, the exceptional chill of the desert night made racing a difficult and dangerous task with no sun to warm the track. And since then, there has barely been a date on the calendar in which the elements have not had a major role to play. From cold to rain to the tail of a hurricane, the weather has been a factor at just about every weekend of the season.

Same Ol' Same Ol'

As the MotoGP circus arrived at Sepang, this weekend looked like being no different. Dark clouds pregnant with rain threatened from the Malacca Strait, and every day would dump their contents onto the circuit whenever the fancy took them. The weather would play its part, no matter what we thought of it.

The consequences of that interference were felt most during Qualifying. While a light drizzle had disrupted practice on Friday, a proper downpour threatened on Saturday. It broke just as the morning's sessions ended, justifying the Kawasaki riders' decision to go out on qualifiers in the hope of bagging a decent grid position if the afternoon's official qualifying session should be canceled. As qualifying practice approached, though, the skies lightened and the threat of cancellation receded.

But with overcast skies and high humidity, the track took a long time to dry, compressing the usual frantic last half hour into just 15 minutes. The last few minutes of the session turned even more manic than normal, adding an extra helping of chance into the job of securing a decent grid position.

Some were luckier - and cannier - than others. Valentino Rossi looked to have timed his final run perfectly, crossing the line to start his final flying lap with a minute to go. But he was outfoxed by Dani Pedrosa, who started his pole lap with just seconds in the session remaining. Though Rossi crossed the line just a tenth off Pedrosa's pole time from last year, the Spaniard struck back, snatching pole by nearly half a second.

Where Pedrosa had got it right, Casey Stoner - or rather, his crew - had gambled and lost. A mix-up in pit lane over tires saw Stoner leave the pits with just under two minutes to the flag. Too late to make it round in time for a flying lap, Stoner was forced to settle for 7th, and a place on the 3rd row of the grid.

The Same, But Different

After two days of damp practice, the MotoGP paddock awoke fearing what the vagaries of the elements might bring for them on race day. Their worries were justified: As the teams arrived at the track, it was clear that once again, the weather would play a role, but not quite the one they had been expecting.

It was hot. The kind of sweltering, mind-melting, body-sapping humid heat that clouds your judgment and steals your strength. The kind of heat that thins out oil and boils off coolant, ably assisting engine blow-ups while stealing power from hot air and even hotter engines. The race was not going to be easy, even under the best of conditions.

Coming as the penultimate round of a long and grueling season, these were very far from the best of conditions. Most riders on the grid are carrying some kind of injury, and lacking fitness due to the ensuing inability to train properly. Racing 200 mph motorcycles at 100% intensity for 45 minutes in 105 degree tropical humidity was going to be a real test of endurance. It had already claimed victims in the smaller classes, with Mattia Pasini pulling in during the 250 race suffering from heat exhaustion.

The best chance of survival, then, was to conserve energy. Any energy wasted in battles to pass riders or fighting through the field could fatally weaken a rider, rendering him unable to fend off any late attacks from behind. The only realistic option for saving energy was to get straight to the front and lead for as long as possible. Dictating the pace would be a good deal less tiring than being forced to follow, so getting a good start would be crucial

Now, More Than Ever

As the bikes sat on the grid, revs raised and nerves strung tighter than piano wire, the riders stared at the lights even more intensely than usual. The fading of the lights unleashed a howl of screaming four-strokes, and 19 of the most advanced motorcycles in the world hurled themselves down the vast ocean of tarmac towards the first corner.

All eyes were on Dani Pedrosa. The combination of the Spaniard's light weight and the fantastic drive off the line of the factory Honda RC212V make Pedrosa the fastest starter on the grid. Starting from pole, the only question seemed how much of an advantage the Repsol Honda man would have going into Turn 1.

The answer, as the pack started to brake for the first corner, was about 5 bike lengths. Pedrosa had plenty of space to his rear as he sat up for Turn 1, while behind him, the rest of the field jostled for position four abreast into the turn. Pedrosa's current team mate Nicky Hayden held the line on one side of the track, while his future team mate Andrea Dovizioso flanked the other.

Caught in the Honda sandwich were Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner, the Ducati rider having catapulted his way up from the 3rd row of the grid. As the chasing four concertinaed together, funneling in to the tight first corner, Stoner was the man who blinked first, letting Valentino Rossi past on the brakes. As for the Hondas, Andrea Dovizioso took advantage of his inside line, while Nicky Hayden hung on around the outside, the pack squeezing through the first turn ready to flick back left for Turn 2.

Though Rossi had entered Turn 1 in 2nd, he was drifting left, ready for Turn 2. Dovizioso, on the other hand, held tight to his inside line through Turn 1, and running wider into the entry of Turn 2, cut across the nose Rossi's Fiat Yamaha to take 2nd from The Doctor as they heeled over in the opposite direction, hard on the gas through the long right hander of Turn 3.

Behind Rossi, Nicky Hayden had held on to keep 4th place, while Casey Stoner had fended off Loris Capirossi, only to find Shinya Nakano challenging him for 5th. Capirossi, meanwhile, had been pushed down to 7th, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, who'd been swamped off the line and lost 5 places through the first section.

Away

At the front, though, Dani Pedrosa was clear and off running fast. This was just what the field had feared, for this was the way that Pedrosa had won all his previous races. If anyone had any ambitions of winning this race, they could not afford to let Pedrosa get away.

Valentino Rossi looked the most anxious to catch Pedrosa, but Rossi had a problem. Andrea Dovizioso had parked his Team Scot Honda firmly in 2nd and was showing no signs of wanting to relinquish the chase to Rossi. The Doctor drove out of Turn 4 hard, closing on Dovi's Honda, and tried to force his Fiat Yamaha up the inside round the long fast left of Turn 5, but Dovizioso hung tough on the faster outside line.

As they rounded the bottom of the track and turned to head back to the main grandstands, Rossi prepared his next move. Closing out of Turn 8, he was not close enough to Dovi to have a go into the hairpin at Turn 9, but stayed close, chasing the Honda rookie down towards the tight right heading onto the back straight.

If Rossi had been worried about Pedrosa escaping, he was wasting his energy. Instead of striking a gap and pulling away, the Repsol Honda man looked stuck, caught in the gravitational field of the two Italians chasing from behind. The lead Pedrosa had pulled at the start of the lap was gone, and by the time they hit the back straight, Dovizioso was almost on Pedrosa, with Valentino Rossi breathing down his neck.

The Doctor was clearly in a hurry to get past. Pulling out of Dovizioso's draft, Rossi waited until the last possible second, braking deep into Turn 15 ahead of the Team Scot Honda, but asking just a little too much of his tires. Rossi ran fractionally wide, and by the time he got his Fiat Yamaha turned and heading back down the front straight to cross the line, Dovizioso was past again and up into 2nd.

Behind Rossi, Nicky Hayden was doing his utmost to catch the two Italians. Closing down the back straight, Hayden tried to make good the final few yards on the brakes but had the misfortune to be following Rossi. As Rossi ran wide, so did Hayden, allowing Casey Stoner to catch him and dive up the inside of the hairpin at Turn 15.

Berm Busters

Fortunately for both Rossi and Hayden, Turn 15 is a big wide corner. Despite being a hairpin, you can ride the outside of the turn like a motocross berm if you find yourself running wide, keeping your speed up and firing out of the corner with extra drive and onto the long front straight. Though Dovi had passed Rossi and Stoner had passed Hayden, the two losers of that battle won the next fight along the home straight. Hayden was back up into 4th by the time the bikes roared across the line for the end of the first lap, while Rossi was up into 2nd just a few yards later.

Rossi was now free to go after Pedrosa, but Dovizioso was not about to just roll over and let him go. The Team Scot Honda rider pushed back at Rossi through the fast right of Turn 3, attempting to close at the sharp right of Turn 4, still close as they headed to the bottom of the track.

Through the double apex of Turns 7 and 8, Rossi started to turn the tide, pulling out a fractional gap as they approached the tight left at Turn 9, then putting the hammer down round the flowing section heading towards the long back straight. By the time they crossed the line to finish lap 2, Rossi was free of Dovizioso and well on the way to catching Dani Pedrosa.

It didn't take him long. By the double apex of 7 and 8 which marks the halfway mark round the track, Rossi was firmly on Pedrosa's tail, hunched over his back wheel and looking for a way past. The most obvious point would be going into Turn 15, the final corner, at the end of the back straight.

But rounding Turn 14, Dani Pedrosa showed just how good the combination of his own slight build and the Honda's fantastic drive out of slow corners could be. Launching out of 14, he pulled out 5 bike lengths along the back straight, repeating the trick out of the final corner to cross the line with 3/10ths of a second to spare. There were to be no giveaways at Sepang.

Repeat Until Done

Lap 4 saw the pattern repeat itself. Rossi hunted Pedrosa down through the half of the track, pushing the Spaniard hard as they rounded the back double apex, trying to get close enough to Pedrosa to attempt a pass. But once they rounded Turn 14 onto the back straight, Dani Pedrosa powered his Honda to pull out a gap once more, leaving Valentino Rossi right back where he started.

Lap 5 was almost a mirror image of the one before. This time, Rossi got closer at Turn 14, but still not close enough. Pedrosa out-dragged Rossi on both of the straights, leaving the Italian too far back to dive up the inside at either end of them. If the Italian was to get past, he would have to look for another way.

Over the following laps, Rossi stalked Pedrosa round the track, never out of range of the heat of the Spaniard's tailpipes. Each time round, he pricked and probed, looking for a way through, and each time was left standing on the run onto the straights. His attempts at unsettling Pedrosa, at worrying him into making a mistake were unsuccessful. Pedrosa knew he could hold Rossi off round the bottom of the track, and gap him down the straights.

The two men were at a stalemate, and only a radically different approach would break the spell. On lap 10, Rossi showed his hand, entering Turn 7 closer than he had been all race and inching closer to Pedrosa ready to pounce. From the tight left of Turn 9, Rossi drove right onto Pedrosa's rear tire, swinging out from behind Pedrosa to cut inside at the fast left of Turn 12, but it was not quite enough. Pedrosa cut back inside, containing the Italian's attack.

That still left Rossi close enough to try again through the long right that closes up towards Turn 14. The Doctor pushed, carrying more speed into the hairpin that opens up onto the straight and drove out of the hairpin and on to the straight. Still he came up short, outgunned by Pedrosa down the straight.

The Hustler

It looked like Rossi was gambling on the final corner, trying to find a way to get close enough at the end of the straight to dive up the inside into the hairpin, the classic Sepang last-lap gambit. But it turned out to be sleight of hand. Round the first part of the track Rossi gained once more, closing on Pedrosa through the double right hander at the bottom of the track. Pedrosa braced himself, preparing to hold off yet another charge through the last two corners leading onto the back straight.

But Rossi was a step ahead. Instead of attacking at the same place that saw his attempts to pass strand down the straights, he switched tracks. As the pair headed into the hairpin of Turn 9, Rossi pulled out of Pedrosa's draft, his left leg flailing as if ready to enter the corner supermoto style, and jammed his Yamaha M1 up the inside of the Repsol Honda, forcing Pedrosa just off line and with no option but to concede the lead to the Italian. Pedrosa tried to get back at Turn 10, but Rossi held his line and held on to the lead.

Now free of encumbrances, it was Rossi's turn to try to pull away. He had enough of a gap going into Turn 14 to counter Pedrosa's drive on to the straight, and the Italian was still safely ahead into the final corner. Onto the front straight, Rossi was still ahead, and with a clear lead.

It was up to Pedrosa to chase now. The Repsol Honda man closed on the Yamaha through the first half of the track, much as Rossi had closed on him. But as they raced into the hairpin and round the rear of the track, Rossi pulled away, crossing the line with an increased lead.

On the next lap, Rossi put the hammer down again, and this time, Pedrosa could not follow. Rossi's lead grew to over a second, and The Doctor was starting to get away. If Pedrosa still had any notion of winning this race, he would have to regroup, and try to get back on to the Yamaha's tail.

See You Later

The intense pace of Rossi and Pedrosa had been too much for the rest to follow. Once Rossi had gotten past Dovizioso, the leaders had quickly left the Team Scot Honda man behind, the gap to 3rd growing lap by lap.

If Dovizioso was losing company ahead of him, he had plenty coming from behind. Nicky Hayden was soon on his tail, dragging Casey Stoner along with him, while Shinya Nakano tagged along shortly after. At first, Stoner contested 4th with Hayden, having a look inside the Repsol Honda man into Turn 1 on lap 3, but the Kentucky Kid held him off on the brakes. Firmly rebuffed, Stoner latched onto Hayden once again, but the American upped his pace and drew out a gap, enough to keep the World Champion at bay.

Stoner had problems of his own. Since being given a factory spec bike at Brno, Shinya Nakano had been flying, and Sepang was no different. The Japanese veteran was closing on Stoner and getting ready to strike. He passed the Australian coming over the line to start lap 7, but Stoner was back again by the time they tipped in to Turn 1. He tried again 3 laps later, but Stoner held him off again. The 2007 Champ may have been struggling with his injured wrist, but he was not about to let people past if he could help it.

The battle for 3rd was starting to get crowded. With Dovizioso at the head of the pack, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner and Shinya Nakano were all giving chase, all close enough to rope each other in, but not close enough to pass. Any attempt to pass usually met with failure, as Hayden demonstrated by trying to jam his factory RC212V up the inside of Dovizioso's satellite bike, only to find himself with too much to do, and running wide.

But with all 4 men squabbling over 3rd riding as defensively as the wide track would allow, others were closing in from behind. The first to join was Jorge Lorenzo, who had taken the first 5 laps to recover from his poor start, and was now back up to 7th. Behind Lorenzo, Colin Edwards was approaching as well, gaining on the group lap by lap.

Young Hothead

Once the 4 had become 6, Lorenzo demonstrated the folly of impetuosity. Annoyed that he had had so much work to do after a terrible start, once he latched onto the tail of Nakano he was determined to get past. As the pack fired out of Turn 15 to start lap 12, he made his move. But like Nicky Hayden several laps earlier, he was just too far away to make it stick.

Unlike Hayden, he had got past Nakano, but as he braked late for Turn 1 to hold off any counter attack, he trailed the front brake just a fraction too long, folding the front wheel and sliding off into the gravel. The Spanish rookie rejoined the race briefly, but his bike was too badly damaged to continue. After a forlorn attempt at a lap, Lorenzo pulled into the pits and out of the race.

His team mate was faring considerably better. Clear of Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi was pulling away, his pace never wavering, while Pedrosa dropped out of the 2'02s and into the 2'03s. The Doctor was flying, lapping at a speed almost as scorching as the Malaysian weather. By the end of lap 14, Rossi had a lead of nearly 2 seconds, and only Fate seemed capable of preventing him from winning.

Stormy Weather

On lap 15, Fate showed signs of intervening. The sunny skies which had welcomed the MotoGP paddock in the morning had been slowly disappearing, hidden behind an ominous and growing mass of clouds. Though the clouds did not have the dark black menace which usually prefigured the arrival of a tropical storm, they still had plenty of water to contribute, and on lap 15, it started sprinkling with rain. Keenly aware of how quickly a downpour might develop, Race Direction decided to wave the white flags, signaling that the riders were now free to enter the pits to jump onto a bike with rain tires. The question was, with just over 6 laps remaining, would it be worth the risk, if the drizzle did not turn into a deluge?

The problem with leading a race when it starts raining is that you are the first to find out that the grip has disappeared in a particular corner, as Sete Gibernau demonstrated at the very first race the white flag was displayed in Estoril. At Sepang, it was Valentino Rossi's turn to play point man, but that role didn't slow him down at all. His lap times remained constant, and he pulled another second gap over Dani Pedrosa, further extending his lead.

After instilling the appropriate sense of fear in the riders by spotting their visors with rain, and sending the teams in the pits into a frenzy of activity, as they rushed to fit the spare bikes with rain tires, Fate decided it had made its point. The light rain petered out and the track remained dry, the race never seriously threatened. The elements had done enough for one day.

With the threat of rain gone, Valentino Rossi kept up his punishing pace. The fastest man on the track by a generous margin, The Doctor kept building his lead all the way to the final lap, only sacrificing time to perform a monster wheelie as he headed towards the finish line.

Championship Style

Valentino Rossi passed the checkered flag to take his 9th win of the season, equaling his tally for his astonishing first championship aboard a Yamaha in 2004. The win also marked his 150th Grand Prix podium, only the 2nd man in history to reach that mark behind - who else - Giacomo Agostini. Now just 9 short of the legendary Italian, Rossi is a safe bet to take that record from Ago at some point during the next two years of his contract with Yamaha.

Some 4 seconds after Rossi, Dani Pedrosa crossed the line to take 2nd, his best result since his switch to Bridgestone tires, and a remarkable achievement in just his 4th race on the Japanese rubber. From being 17th fastest in Friday morning's session, Pedrosa had gone on to take pole and lead the race. His performance was even more impressive considering the fact that he is carrying a knee injury from his ignominious exit from the Phillip Island race.

Critics might say that Pedrosa displayed his weakness once again on Sunday, incapable of following and attacking Rossi once the Italian passed. But that would be unnecessarily harsh: Conditions at Sepang were so extreme that to even compete with Rossi, let alone keep him firmly behind you for 9 long laps, all while not up to full fitness due to injury, is really quite astounding. If Pedrosa is this good when he's not fit, then next year he should be fearsome.

If the battle for 1st was quickly settled, the scrap over 3rd went down to the wire. After Jorge Lorenzo crashed out, Andrea Dovizioso continued to lead the group, with Nicky Hayden breathing down his neck, while Casey Stoner alternated between attacking Hayden and holding off Shinya Nakano.

But if Pedrosa's fitness was questionable, Stoner's was not good at all. The harsh braking for the three hairpins combined with a number of fast, hard left turns placed a lot of strain on the Australian's broken scaphoid, and Stoner was forced to compensate for the weakness of his left wrist by taking up the strain on the right. In searing heat and with no feeling in his left hand, the reigning World Champion could not cope with the pace, and the constant battling.

He first let Hayden inch away, giving up tenths of a second a lap, and then was forced to let Shinya Nakano past on lap 16, able to hold the Gresini Honda rider off no longer. Stoner tried to tag on to the back of Nakano, but was forced to let the Japanese rider go. His chance of a podium was gone.

Once past Stoner, Shinya Nakano was quickly upon Dovizioso and Hayden, and settled in to wait. With Dovi and Hayden knocking spots off each other, the sensible tactic was to wait for the inevitable mistake and then to pounce.

Ready To Rumble

And mistakes were plentiful. Hayden jabbed at Dovizioso, but ran wide, while Dovi held the American off on the brakes, running hot into corners completely out of shape. It looked certain to end in tears.

On lap 18, after being frustrated by the brilliant defense of Dovizioso, Hayden finally made a pass stick. Swinging out of the Italian's draft as the two Hondas headed down the front straight, Hayden at last managed to stuff his factory machine ahead of Dovi's satellite bike into Turn 1 and get back on the podium.

But Dovi would not relinquish the prospect of his first podium in MotoGP so easily. Holding the inside line once again, he tried to flick his bike left ahead of Hayden on the way into Turn 2, but he was not quite far enough in front. The American grabbed the line, then slammed his Repsol Honda across the nose of the Team Scot bike as they railed round the fast right of Turn 3.

Dovi wasn't finished yet. He sat behind Hayden on the short straight towards Turn 4, then flung his Honda inside Hayden on the brakes. It was just enough: Dovizioso exited the turn ahead, and far enough in front to keep the American behind him once more.

But Hayden would not be denied. He crept back onto Dovi's back wheel through the double right of Turns 7 and 8, and tried to pass the Italian on the brakes again going into Turn 9. But as good as Hayden was under braking, Dovizioso was better. As they started to tip the bikes into the corner, Hayden could see he wasn't going to get past and was forced to hold the brakes on to avoid slamming into the back of Dovizioso. Running wide, he immediately gave up a gap to the Italian, valuable time he would have to try and get back.

It took him 2 laps. By the time they crossed the line for the penultimate time, Hayden was back on Dovizioso, and had a full lap of the track to try and make his move. He threw everything he had at the Italian. Pushing through the first section of turns, then stalking Dovi on the way up to the hairpin of Turn 9. He tried once more on the brakes, but again, Dovizioso held strong, leaving Hayden nowhere to go.

This time, though, Hayden lost no ground. He arrowed in on Dovizioso's tail through the final sweep of corners, hoping to get close enough for a pass along one of the straights. But whatever Hayden tried, Dovi parried, and entered the back straight far enough to keep Hayden away. On the way into the final corner, Hayden wasn't close enough to make a final desperate lunge. Today, he would have to concede defeat.

Rookie's Revenge

And so Andrea Dovizioso crossed the line to take his first podium in the premier class. It had been a long time coming, and was one of the most hard-fought and well-deserved 3rd places we have seen in a very long while.

What was particularly impressive was just how long he had kept two superior spec machines behind him. The years of racing an underpowered 250 Honda against the might of Jorge Lorenzo's Aprilia were paying dividends, and Dovizioso treated the crowd to an exhibition of defensive riding to rival Valentino Rossi's duel with Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca. With this display, Dovizioso proved he deserved a chance on better machinery.

Nicky Hayden was magnanimous in defeat. Despite his frustration at missing out on a podium - especially one which featured his hated team mate - he cheerfully admitted that Dovizioso fully deserved to take 3rd after his performance. Hayden was clearly faster than Dovizioso, but that meant nothing if he couldn't get past.

It is ironic that Hayden is starting to get the pneumatic valve Honda RC212V to fly just as he is about to leave the team. The Hayden on display for the past few races has been the Hayden of old, sliding the rear through turns, running wider to square off the corners, and using the throttle to steer the bike round the track. With his confidence returned, and his spectacular and gratifying style back on display, the Kentucky Kid is looking forward to the Ducati. And frankly, he's not the only one.

Shinya Nakano finished up 5th, unable to capitalize on the mistakes made in the battle ahead of him. But the Japanese rider did all that could be asked of him and more, and after the Kawasaki deal with Aspar fell through, leaving Nakano without a ride for 2009, you have to wonder why he won't be in MotoGP. Given the right equipment, Nakano is clearly in with a chance of a podium, if things will run his way.

Hanging Tough

Casey Stoner hung on to finish in 6th place and secure 2nd in the championship. The Australian looked close to collapse once he got off the bike, and to struggle round the track with effectively one arm is an achievement in itself. The experience took so much out of Stoner that he is considering whether to race at the final round in Valencia, or sit out the race to concentrate on testing the Desmosedici GP9 on the day after. He told reporters he would decide after the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday.

Loris Capirossi had challenged Casey Stoner for 6th in the middle stages of the race, but had been forced to settle for 7th after making a mistake when trying to get past. Though Sepang is a track that Capirossi is strong at, the Suzuki was short of too much power to be able to run at the front. In that light, 7th is a pretty good result.

The same can not quite be said for Colin Edwards. Though he qualified on the 2nd row, Edwards really lost out on the first lap, dropping 4 places it would prove too difficult to get back. After dropping off the back of the leading group, he was eventually forced to let Capirossi pass and settle for 8th. He may be sure of his contract now, but he won't be happy with his results.

Chris Vermeulen came home in 9th, but had had his hands full with Randy de Puniet for much of the race. The two exchanged positions a number of times, but eventually, the Suzuki man came out on top. Like his team mate, Vermeulen was handicapped by a lack of speed, and 9th was all he could manage.

That left Randy de Puniet in 10th. The Frenchman had been quick in practice, but was unable to capitalize, losing out in the scramble for qualifying. Poor grid position left de Puniet out of the running for a better result.

The Kawasakis finished behind de Puniet, John Hopkins a couple of seconds behind in 11th, Ant West much further back in 12th. Their biggest problem is still the bike, lacking grip at both the front and the rear, the rear tire spinning up in most corners. The problem for Kawasaki is that they won't have a new bike to test until February. Which means they will once again be starting their new test program late, and behind the curve.

Hard Times

Sylvain Guintoli was the first of the satellite Ducati riders home in 13th, pleased to score points in his penultimate appearance before going off to join BSB. It's been a hard year for the Frenchman, and he has proven before that he is better than his results would indicate.

In 14th, Alex de Angelis came home a disappointed man. The weekend had been disastrous all round, and the man from San Marino had struggled from the start. A man with two 4th places to his name must surely be able to do much better than this.

Toni Elias took the final point in 15th after everything had gone wrong for him. The Spaniard had started from the back of the grid after getting caught out by the conditions during qualifying, and he then compounded his error by getting a jump start trying to make good his poor grid position.

But Elias' weekend was not as bad as that of Marco Melandri. Melandri was, as ever, completely invisible this weekend, and finishing outside the points in 16th is typical of his dire form aboard the Ducati. What made it worse was the fact that he was passed by Elias, despite the Spaniard having been penalized with a ride-through for a jump start.

Fortunately for Melandri, Suzuki had entered a wild card for him to finish ahead of. Suzuki's veteran test rider Nobuatsu Aoki brought a development version of the Suzuki GSVR home in 17th place. The new bike, which featured much quieter exhausts, seemed to have more mid-range and more drive out of corners. Now all Suzuki need is a bit more top end, and they could be competitive.

The Long Grind

The weather has been a factor at nearly every race this year, but conditions at Sepang made the Malaysian Grand Prix almost as difficult a race as the hurricane-affected round at Indianapolis. The broiling heat and sweltering humidity drained an injury-stricken field of energy, and robbed the bikes of speed.

It is a miracle that anyone finished at all, and a testament to the fitness of these extraordinary sportsmen that they could compete in the steam room conditions of Malaysia. Though the racetrack has been known to produce racing spectacle, the weather simply would not permit it. The intense heat and humidity were too harsh to allow hard and physical racing, brutally punishing any extended displays of exuberance.

In the end, the race ended up reflecting the weather: A long, grueling war of attrition, where just to remain standing could itself be considered a kind of victory. Despite the racing authorities continued attempts to keep everything under control, Nature is a force unto herself, and when she speaks, we are forced to listen.

As the MotoGP circus wings its way across the Strait of Malacca towards Kuala Lumpur, it will be as if they were also traveling back in time. For at last year's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, there was only one subject of discussion, and that was the possible consequences of introducing a single tire rule. This year, there will once again be only one subject of discussion, the possible consequences of introducing a single tire rule.

The difference between this year and last is that in 2007, the single tire rule was just a proposal, a bargaining ploy to get Bridgestone to supply Valentino Rossi with tires for 2008. This year, the single tire rule is a done deal, confirmed at Motegi, and with Bridgestone the only company to have submitted a bid by the October 3rd deadline, the Japanese tire maker is certain of the contract. While last year at Sepang, the paddock waited for details of a deal to be announced, this year, they will be waiting for details of the contract, and how it will work.

But the same sense of trepidation will hang in the air. In comments to the press, Bridgestone's Motorcycle Sport Manager Hiroshi Yamada has already hinted that the number of tires available for riders will be drastically reduced, and that the construction of special tires for riders with specific needs - riders such as Toni Elias and Dani Pedrosa - will cease, with everyone left to cope with a limited choice of compounds and constructions. An announcement will be made on October 18th, but until then, fear, rumor and hearsay will fill the paddock.

Through The Looking Glass

Which is a shame, for the Sepang track actually offers the possibility of a good race. Viewed in isolation, the raw track specification fills the hearts of right-minded motorcycle racing enthusiasts with dread. The circuit was designed by that bane of motorcycle racers, Hermann Tilke, and is a very wide track featuring long straights, tight hairpins and slow chicanes, designed to help make for close racing in Formula 1.

But unlike its counterpart in Shanghai, designed to the same brief, the way the Sepang circuit joins those F1-based features is infinitely more imaginative, and flows from one corner to the next in a way quite alien to the Chinese track. If anything, the long straights and tight corners actually enrich the experience of the track, offering riders a chance to catch up in one area what they lose in sections where their machines are less capable.

The track starts with an almost interminable front straight, the bikes appearing to be cast adrift in a sea of tarmac, getting close to 190mph as they hit the braking zone for the first corner. That first corner is a tight buttonhook of a right hander, forcing the rider to dump 125mph as quickly as possible, before flicking the bike back hard left for Turn 2. Though you may have plenty of opportunity to outbrake people going into Turn 1, in doing so, you can easily open yourself up to give back what you just gained in that hard flick left.

Slow, Slow, Quick-Quick, Slow

A long, fast right hander then opens up, leading you on to another tight right, offering another opportunity to dive up the inside on the brakes. From this point, the track begins to flow, with a fast left followed by a faster right, before a short straight takes you into a double apex right. Like many double apex turns, the brave, the devious and the foolhardy can attempt alternate lines, braking later to dive up the inside into the first corner, carrying more speed into the turn to pass on the short section connecting the two turns, or turn into the second corner earlier, blocking the apex for the man head of you and stealing his position.

But once again, care is needed. Any pass through the double apex right leaves you badly short of drive on the short straight leading up to Turn 9, and if you do not defend your line, you end up with people flying past on the way into the left hand hairpin.

The hairpin at Turn 9 is another favorite passing spot, a chance to outbrake other riders, but like Turn 1, the corner is followed by another flick, right this time, before braking hard while leaned hard over for Turn 11, and off towards Turn 12. Brake too hard to pass at Turn 9, and your rivals will carry more speed out of 9 and into 10, and be on you and past going into 11.

Once out of Turn 11, you have two more chances to pass. The first is the section from Turn 12 through Turn 14, which starts with a fast left, followed by a long right which closes up into an almost hairpin at Turn 14. The mirror image of the final sequence of turns at Valencia, once again you are hard on the brakes at full lean, and bravery and cunning can get you ahead into Turn 14 and onto the straight.

Bubble Boy

If you do enter the straight first, you'd better pray for some horsepower. The straight at the back of the grandstands, like the front straight, is a long and lonely place, and tucked tightly under the bubble of the screen, you can only hope that anyone following doesn't whip out of your draft along the straight to jam their bike up the inside into the final hairpin and onto the back straight.

But that final hairpin presents dangers of its own. The last chance to get ahead of the man in front of you, the temptation is great to wait just another fraction of a millisecond before braking, and giving in to that temptation can bring you either gravel or glory, depending on your timing. Like the final corner at Mugello, it is far too easy to get drawn into a braking battle and end up hopelessly wide, and completely out of touch. Get it right, and you cross the line ahead. Get it wrong, and you watch the chasing hordes pass you by, dropping a handful of places in a handful of seconds.

That mix of long straights and hard braking, combined with the punishing heat and humidity, takes a very high toll on the riders. Add to this the fact that they Sepang is the third flyaway race in a row, and it comes close to the end of a long and arduous season, which has left many riders battered and bruised to varying degrees. Riding at full intensity for the duration of a MotoGP race in the tropical Malaysian heat is a real test of physical endurance, and the weak tend to fall along the wayside.

Battered, But Unbowed

The tough conditions at Sepang will for the biggest test yet for Casey Stoner. The Australian is still struggling with a broken scaphoid, soldiering on to the end of the season just so he can test the new Ducati GP9 at the post-race test at Valencia. Stoner's broken wrist didn't slow him down in front of his home crowd, the Australian winning the Phillip Island race with relative ease two weeks ago, but Sepang could be a different kettle of fish altogether.

Where Phillip Island flows, with only a couple of hard braking sections, Sepang has two of the hardest braking sections of the season on two consecutive corners, both at the end of 190mph straights. It also has two more tight corners which you approach at high speed, which will place even more strain on Stoner's weakened wrist. The circuit's saving grace are the two long straights, allowing riders to rest, even if just for a few seconds, and take the strain off injured bones.

Even with an injured wrist and the loss of fitness which it brings with it, Casey Stoner has got to be the favorite to win at Sepang. The Australian won here last year, capping a long series of strong results for Ducati in Malaysia. And Stoner has just had a couple of weeks holiday at home in Australia, a chance to recuperate from a long and hard title defense. There can be no doubt that Stoner is coming back to win the last two races of the season. The only question is whether his wrist is up to the job.

Rubbing It In

The main candidate to prevent Stoner from taking another victory will be the man who took his crown. Valentino Rossi is outstanding at Sepang, just as he is elsewhere. With 4 victories to his name at this track, and with his bike and his tires truly competitive, he will want to finish the season with another couple of wins to add to his tally.

But to do that, he will have to avoid the mistakes of the last race and last year. Both at Sepang in 2007 and two weeks ago at Phillip Island, Valentino Rossi qualified way down the grid, putting himself out of contention before the race had even started. All year long, Rossi has stated that if he is to keep up with Stoner, he needs to start from the front row. The Doctor will have to put his qualifiers to good use for the penultimate time if he is to achieve that. If he manages that, he will be very hard to beat.

The other main contender at Sepang will be Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard has finished on the podium in both of the two MotoGP races he has ridden here, and after his disastrous mistake at Phillip Island two weeks ago, he is keen to make amends. Pedrosa started from pole in Malaysia in 2007, and must be a very good bet to manage the same feat this year. The combination of Pedrosa's light weight and Honda's powerful pneumatic valve RC212V should give the Spaniard an extra burst of speed, making it possible to match and maybe even beat this year's and last year's champion.

Spanish For "Teamwork"

And Pedrosa badly needs a result. The Spaniard, his manager and his sponsor engineered a mid-season switch to Bridgestone tires, only for the whole series to go single tire a couple of races later. In addition, a surprisingly public war of words has been going on in the press over the past few days between Pedrosa's team mate Nicky Hayden and his manager Alberto Puig.

Hayden told a Spanish newspaper that he believed Puig ran the HRC program, and Puig immediately struck back, branding Hayden a hypocrite, and accusing the American of not being able to set up a bike without Pedrosa's setup data. In the prerace press conference, Hayden then told the press that he hadn't seen any of Pedrosa's data for months, while Pedrosa had access to every other Honda rider's data any time he liked. He then restated his belief that it was Puig who held the power in the HRC team.

The whole mess is most unseemly, and exactly the kind of affair that Honda likes to keep behind closed doors, rather than paraded brazenly in public. There are already paddock rumblings that Honda has given Pedrosa one more year to become world champion, before they look for someone else to take his place. And with Alberto Puig's behavior increasingly reminiscent of some of Max Biaggi's finer outbursts, HRC attitudes towards both mentor and rider are likely to harden.

The pressure on Pedrosa is starting to build. He is still just 3rd in the championship, and under threat from Jorge Lorenzo in 4th. After electing to run the #2 plate to emphasize that he finished ahead of Valentino Rossi in 2007, Pedrosa could well finish down in 4th this year, and have to decide whether continuing with an unearned #2 would be a humiliation or a spur on to greater heights. The young Spaniard has so far been extremely cool under pressure, showing few signs of buckling. He has another chance to show just how well he copes with both the pressure of winning and the strain of a difficult team relationship on Sunday.

The First Man You Need To Beat

Probably the man most determined to beat Pedrosa is his team mate. Nicky Hayden has seen his form improve dramatically since Assen, though tire woes and a broken bone in his foot intervened, and is coming off two podiums from the last three races. Hayden immediately took to the air valve RC212V like a duck to water, and the Sepang circuit will suit both the bike and Hayden's style. The American has finished 4th in Malaysia 4 of the 5 visits he has paid to the track. He will be determined both to finally get onto the podium, and finish ahead of Pedrosa, to demonstrate both to Honda, but more importantly to Alberto Puig, that he should not be dismissed too lightly.

The other serious podium candidate is surely Jorge Lorenzo. The Fiat Yamaha man has now completely recovered the confidence he lost in the huge crashes he suffered early in the season, and is well on his way to securing the rookie of the year title, ahead of the other strong candidate for that title, Andrea Dovizioso.

But Lorenzo has another target in his sights. Like Hayden, Jorge Lorenzo is determined to beat Dani Pedrosa, though in Lorenzo's case, it is for the title of top Spanish rider, a battle he has spent a long time fighting with Pedrosa over. Now just 27 points behind Pedrosa, taking 3rd place away from the Honda rider will require a bit of help from other riders and the strongest possible ride from Lorenzo. Beating Pedrosa is all the motivation Lorenzo needs.

Once Upon A Time

In previous years, there would have been two other names that would have been likely candidates for the podium. But in 2008, for differing reasons, Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi are less likely to feature in the race for the silverware.

Capirossi's success in previous years was predicated on the Italian's superb bond with the Ducati 990. Capirex was a formidable opponent every time the series visited the Malaysian track, but the Suzuki is a different proposition. Despite the excellent times the team posted in testing here earlier in the year, the Suzukis have been very much mid-pack for most of the season. As good as Capirossi is here, he is unlikely to overcome the Suzuki's lack of top speed and drive out of corners.

Marco Melandri has the opposite problem. The Italian will suffer from having to ride a Ducati, rather than not having a Ducati to ride. Melandri finished 2nd here last year after a very strong performance, keeping Casey Stoner honest all the way to the end. But since his switch to the Bologna factory, Melandri has become a perennial backmarker. Even a return to a track he rides well at is unlikely to make much difference there.

Like Melandri, the Kawasaki team will find it almost impossible to match their performance from last year. Kawasaki started from 4th and 5th on the grid in 2007, with Randy de Puniet finishing in 4th, while poor Ant West was pulled in for a ride through penalty, ruining a strong start to the race. This year, Kawasaki have been dismal, and with both John Hopkins and Ant West complaining of a lack of grip at both front and rear, they are likely once again to be contesting for the final point on offer, rather than podium places. West will be glad to be leaving for a competitive team in World Supersport next year, while Hopkins will have to wonder what will happen once his big money contract with Monster Kawasaki comes to an end in 2009.

The Outsiders

If you're looking for outsiders at Sepang, then you need look no further than the satellite teams. Ducati, Yamaha and Honda all have teams and riders in with a fighting chance of a podium here aboard satellite equipment.

The prime suspect must surely be Andrea Dovizioso. The Italian has performed miracles on about the most standard satellite Honda available, and is currently running 5th in the championship, some 37 points behind his former 250 nemesis Jorge Lorenzo in 4th. With a contract from HRC to ride the factory Honda under his belt, Dovizioso is looking to finish the season on a high.

Dovi's satellite RC212V may be a little underpowered down Sepang's mighty straights, but the Italian had plenty of practice of that last year, and is sure to put those lessons to good use. If he can stick with the front runners from the first lap, he could well spice up the battle for the podium.

Shaolin Style

And if James Toseland's performance at Phillip Island is anything to go by, a battle is exactly what it might turn into. The British Tech 3 Yamaha man gave a lesson in how World Superbike champions ride at Phillip Island last time out - much to the dismay of Dovizioso, who suggested JT might be better off taking up kickboxing - and some of those skills are likely to come in handy at Sepang, too.

There are a couple of points on the track - Turns 1 and 2, the double apex right at the bottom of the track, the combination of Turns 9 and 10 - which suit Toseland's aggressive attitude down to the ground. And having tested here extensively during the preseason, the Briton should know the track well enough to have a chance of improving on his best result. Toseland has finished 6th place 6 times this year. This could be the weekend he goes one better.

His team mate will want to do well here too. Colin Edwards has been given a stiff talking to by Yamaha racing bosses recently, on the remarkable coincidence between the point at which he signed a new contract to continue in MotoGP for another year and a sudden slump in results. If the Texan continues to be beaten by his team mate, he could find himself swapping seats with another Texan, Ben Spies, and off to ride a Yamaha in World Superbikes.

Saving Grace

Like Colin Edwards, Shinya Nakano is fighting for his seat in MotoGP. The Japanese rider saw his career take a nosedive after he left Kawasaki to join the star-crossed JiR team, and has only recovered some of his former pace since switching back to Bridgestones aboard the Gresini Honda. Nakano is now testing the 2009 spec satellite RC212V, and as such is expected to do well. With his seat at Gresini gone to Toni Elias next year and his only hope of staying a return to Kawasaki aboard a third - or possibly even fourth - Kawasaki to be fielded by Aspar, he needs to finish the season with a couple of strong results to bolster his claim to remain in MotoGP. 5th place in Phillip Island was a good start, but he will need to match that at both Sepang and Valencia.

The man taking Nakano's place will surely be another dark horse at Malaysia. The Ducati is strong at Sepang, and since getting new rear suspension at the Sachsenring, Toni Elias has gone from strength to strength, even scoring a couple of podiums. But his last 3 races have shown a slump in form, and Elias will want to erase that memory before returning to the bosom of the Gresini Honda team. The Alice Ducati is fast enough, so a strong result for Elias has to be a serious possibility.

Elias' team mate has not had such a good year aboard the Ducati, despite soldiering bravely on while other Ducati riders were throwing up the hands in despair. Like Ant West, Sylvain Guintoli is taking a step back to go and ride a Suzuki in the British Superbikes Series, and like West, Guintoli will want to make an impression before he leaves. That should at least be easier for the Frenchman aboard the Ducati than it will be for the Australian on the Kawasaki. But like West, Guintoli has spent too much of the season languishing at the rear of the field, and will be pleased to be off to more competitive machinery next year.

Here Comes The Rain Again, Again

There is one more factor which may well end up playing a major role at Sepang. The weather is always difficult at Sepang, with the tropical heat and humidity sapping energy from both riders and bikes - one of the reasons the track is examining moving to a night race, as happened at Qatar. But this weekend's weather is looking even more difficult than usual. In a year plagued by rain, the Sepang race weekend looks like being more of the same, with scattered thunderstorms predicted for the entire weekend.

At another track, that might not be such a problem. But Sepang is right in the middle of the tropics, and a thunderstorm there can leave the track completely flooded, as it did back in 2006 causing qualifying to be canceled. Though the drainage has been improved since then, it is nigh on impossible to build drains big enough to get rid of the foot or so of water which a tropical downpour can dump on the track in the space of an hour. If it does rain, it could make riding difficult at the very least, if not plain impossible.

And of course, if it rains, it should be wet enough for the real wet weather riders, Ant West and Chris Vermeulen. The two Australians are peerless in the rain, and a properly wet track might give the pair a chance to finish their season off in style. Rain on race day would change the equation entirely, and could mean all bets are off, both in terms of the result, and whether the race can be run on time at all.

So let us hope that it stays dry on Sunday. For the combination of a track which offers the possibility of some close racing, and a pack of riders with either nothing to lose, or everything to lose if they fail, should spice up the racing quite nicely. If it gets as hot as the local cooking, we should be in for a real treat come Sunday.

Ever since the long-lamented 990cc bikes roared into the sunset at the end of 2006 to be replaced by the 800cc machines, MotoGP has suffered a crisis of confidence. That final year of competition with the large capacity bikes produced some of the most exhilarating racing ever seen, yet after the introduction of the new formula, the racing changed overnight, suddenly becoming processional and rather too often, positively dull.

Having been spoilt by a year of thrills and spills, and with the big name stars being left for dead by a relatively unknown Australian on a Bridgestone-shod Ducati, TV audiences switched off in droves, the viewing figures tumbling. MotoGP was starting to lose ground to other motorsports, and with teams already finding it difficult to raise the necessary sponsorship to fund their efforts, neither Dorna nor the teams could afford for the series to decline in popularity further. Something had to be done.

Whenever a group of people - be it organizations, governments or even families -  decide that "something has to be done" the first step is usually to try and pinpoint a culprit. Throughout 2007, the finger of blame was pointed squarely at tires, Bridgestone prospering as Michelin failed to adapt to the new rules limiting tire numbers. This regularly left half the field unable to compete, and most painfully, saw Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, key figures in Dorna's target markets, floundering and off the pace. The current tire situation could not be allowed to stand.

I Know I'm Unlovable

An appropriate culprit - or perhaps scapegoat - found, the rules were tweaked at the end of the season in the hope of reintroducing competition. And as extra insurance, Valentino Rossi was allowed to switch tire brands, with the hope of putting motorcycle racing's media phenomenon back on equal footing with the implacably unlovable Casey Stoner.

The first few races showed at least some improvement, with four different winners in the first four races, and Valentino Rossi then going on to win three races in a row. But the underlying problem remained: The margin of victory was never less than 1.8 seconds, and most races were still being decided by half way. And after Ducati found some fixes to the problems that plagued Casey Stoner's early season, the situation got worse. Once again, the reigning World Champion was humiliating the field, winning race after race, sometimes by as much as 11 seconds.

The changes to the tire rules hadn't changed anything. The little-known and even less liked Australian was winning races by the end of the first lap again, and the field was spread out seconds apart. Down in 6th place, huge multiple rider battles were raging, but these were going on off-camera, and for the consolation prizes. When Michelin ran all of their riders on hard rain tires in Germany, gambling on a drying track which never arrived, we were back at square one. Once again, conversations about MotoGP were all about tires, and not about riders.

Turning Point

Then came Laguna Seca. At Laguna, two things happened. First, Michelin turned up with tires that were completely inadequate to cope with the conditions, leaving all of the Michelin runners completely out of contention once again. The heat under the tire discussion got turned up another notch, and the first rumblings of more rule changes started to appear.

Secondly, as the race got underway, one of the most nail-biting battles MotoGP has seen for a long time unfolded, with Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner knocking chunks out of each other for 23 long laps. For half an hour, the crowd and TV viewers around the world held their breath, as the death-defying spectacle went on for lap after lap. And for 45 minutes, no one mentioned tires, wrapped up in the glorious duel of two racers at the very top of their ability.

The respite was to be only brief, as another Michelin failure at Brno after the summer break saw the riders, fans and paddock all talking tires once again, only briefly diverging to talk about the racing, before returning to the subject at the forefront of everybody's minds.

Lessons From The Lake

But all the talk of tires disguised a much more important lesson from Laguna Seca: There was plenty of racing to be had in MotoGP, if the track would only allow it. Laguna Seca, with a few fast corners mixed with tight and tortuous sections, but more importantly, the track layout following the lie of the land and flowing from corner to corner, proved an ideal stage for MotoGP. The combinations of corners placed the emphasis on rider skill once again, and gave Valentino Rossi, his Yamaha clearly outclassed, a chance to match Casey Stoner's terrifying pace around the Californian circuit.

In a strange way, the tracks that followed Laguna underlined this lesson. Misano is run backwards, against the natural flow of the track, Indianapolis was an artificial course inside a racing oval, and Motegi is a collection of perfectly engineered corners joined by a complete failure of imagination. Only Brno has some kind of natural character, and any hopes of a race were soon cut short, with Casey Stoner crashing out early on.

Though the MotoGP paddock arrived at Phillip Island once again full of tire talk, a single tire rule having been agreed the week before, the fans hoped for much more. The Australian circuit is an old road course, and flows naturally across the landscape, organically evolved rather than technologically designed. As such, it lends itself to fantastic racing, rewarding the brave and the skilled far above those with just a fast bike.

Guts And Glory

The secret to the track is perhaps its mixture of very fast corners, a couple of sharp hairpins, and the way that the corners roll into one another in a natural rhythm. A rider with the courage to carry more speed through terrifyingly quick corners like Doohan and Turn 12, the skill to hold other riders off on the brakes going into the Honda hairpin, and the mixture of both to carry enough speed going over Lukey Heights to pass while still being able to brake for MG, such a rider can flourish here, almost regardless of the machine underneath him.

As a result, qualifying on the front row of the grid is less crucial at Phillip Island than at other racetracks. With a bellyful of courage and a bit of blind faith in your tires, you can work your way up from way down on the grid to battle for the lead.

This was exactly what Valentino