After a week off, GP was back in action racing at LeMans, this week in France. It was a crazy race, because of the wet track conditions. It was drizzling up until the warm-up lap, which caused all of the riders to start the race riding bikes shod with wet weather tires. Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Stoner got a great start. It only took a few laps for Lorenzo to jump out in front and open up a sizable gap. Rossi wormed his way up into second position, after a few short laps. It became pretty clear after 5 or 6 laps that there was a dry line forming on the track and that the riders were going to have to pit and switch to regular slick-shod bikes in order to finish the race. In a bold move, Rossi pitted first and subsequently low-sided in a wet corner, causing him to fall way back in the pack. Eventually, all of the rider’s switched bikes and finished on slicks. Lorenzo was one of the last riders to do so, after he had opened a 20 second gap. Even while he was getting his slick tires up to temperature, he maintained an impressive lead. Marco Melandri, riding a Kawasaki pulled out a second place finish. This goes to show that crazy conditions can lead to crazy results. Pedrosa was able to steal the last spot on the podium from Dovizioso on the very last lap. This shook up the world championship standings, putting Lorenzo on top. Rossi, who earned zero championship points today is now 1 point behind Lorenzo in second position. Stoner is one point behind Rossi, bringing up third position in the world championship standings. Full results here. The next race will be on the home turf of the Italian riders, at Mugello on May 31.

Sunday’s Jerez race was a banger. Pedrosa got out to an early lead, with Stoner in second position and Lorenzo in third. It didn’t take long for Rossi to throw on the afterburners and motor past all three riders. The only one that even gave battle, was Stoner. Stoner was able to pass Rossi back, at the bottom of the start/finish straight, before ultimately being overtaken by the Doctor. By that time, Pedrosa had opened up a gap of over a second, in the lead, which took several laps for Rossi to close. After overtaking Pedrosa, Rossi was able to smoothly sail onto the podium. Full results here. Pedrosa finished second, and Stoner earned the final podium spot. Lorenzo, despite having a fantastic start, low-sided out of the race with under 10 laps to go. With Lorenzo’s wreck, the world championship order was shaken up a bit. Rossi now leads the way, followed by Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa, respectively. The riders will have a brief reprieve this weekend as the teams make their way to Le Mans course in France, for the next race on May 17.

[photo by motogp.com]

I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t totally freaking excited for this year’s round of MotoGP action. The season hasn’t even started yet, and there has already been drama. Pedrosa, who took a nasty tumble during pre-season testing, underwent surgery last week, but is still shooting to open the season next month in Qatar.

American, and former world champion, Nicky Hayden, will be back in the mix, after leaving Honda/Repsol. He claims to be feeling confident on his new Ducati. Stoner, also former world champion, and Hayden’s new teammate, has been putting up some impressive numbers during testing. Stoner will be coming into 2009 with a chip on his shoulder, after blowing a huge lead in last year’s world championship, letting Rossi run away with it.

Speaking of drama and chips on shoulders, Sete Gibernau is back in action this year. It would be an understatement to say that there is some bad blood between Gibernau and the Yamaha Fiat team, principally Valentino Rossi. It stems from an incident that occured at the same track hosting the 2009 opener.

Finally, the Losail circuit in Qatar is the only race currently in the GP lineup, which is held at night, under the lights. 2009 will be the second season for the night race.

I am also excited for this season, because Reagan and I are tentatively planning on travelling to see the Indianapolis race this year, in August. That is only if I can’t talk her into going to Laguna for the July 4th weekend.

Who knows, in a month we may even have a new sofa. Either way, I will be taking reservations for those who would like to join me in watching the season opener on April 12, which also happens to be Easter. Hahahah.