I have been anticipating Sunday’s race, since the season ended, last year. The first race of the season did not disappoint. First of all, MotoGP, for the first time ever was broadcast in HD. Second, the first race of the season, under the lights of Qatar is the only night race of the season, which makes it that much more dramatic.  All of the big players from last year were back to represent. Stoner crashed out and handed Rossi a podium. Lorenzo came from behind to land a second place finish, with a broken hand. Hayden rode in second and third position, most of the race. He ended up finishing 4th by a fraction of a second, when his Ducati couldn’t quite out-muscle Dovizioso’s Respol Honda on the last straight. Also, Ben Spies made the jump from Superbike, this season, and is racing as a privateer. He finished 5th position. Super impressive. I hope that the rest of the season continues to be as good.

Last Sunday’s MotoGP race was one, that will no doubt go down as one of the all time best battles in GP history. Jorge Lorenzo got a great start, out of the grid, with Stoner following in second position for the first few laps. It did not take long for Rossi to work his way into second position, where he began an epic battle with Jorge Lorenzo for the podium. Lorenzo and Rossi, are teammates on the Fiat Yamaha factory team. In theory, they are riding the same bike. Rossi overtook Lorezno about half way through the race, and lead for several laps. With only a handful of laps to go, Lorenzo was able to steal the lead from Rossi. For the last few laps, the Yamaha teammates, put one of the most intensely hard fought battles ever witnessed in the premier class of motorcycle racing. Rossi was able to pull out the win, with an amazing overtaking maneuver rounding the corner into the finish straight. A more exciting finish could not have been scripted.

Stoner took third position in the race. Rossi moved back to the top of the points, in the World Championship standings. Lorenzo was bumped into second position, and Stoner remains in third position. Full results can be found here.

The next race will be at the Assen Circuit, in the Netherlands, on June 27.

Mugello, as the case at Le Mans, started with a wet track, though the rain had stopped. These conditions lead to a dry line forming on the track after several laps, necessitating tire change. Wet/dry of races are always sloppy. Those who change tires too soon, low side (Rossi, at Le Mans). Those who wait too long, lose their position, because the early changers are eating 4 seconds out of their lap times.

Sunday’s race was no different. With the wet tires, the unlikely her Melandri actually led the race for several laps in front of the Italian Crowd. After the entire field had pitted to change bikes (shod with race slicks), Stoner was on a mission. He was able to get in first position and make it stick. Melandri could not get his bike dialed in with the dry tires and started sinking like a stone, through the order. There was a bit of  a battle at the front between Dovizioso and the leaders. But Dovizioso, also, could not keep up the pace, and eventually dropped into fourth position, as he was overtaken by Rossi for the final podium spot, with 3 laps to go.

Lorenzo lowsided in the warm up lap, had a terrible start, on his back up bike, and still managed to end up finishing second. This phenominal effort on Lorenzo’s part, earned him the spot back at the top of the world championship points. Full results can be found here.

The podium order was Stoner, Lorenzo and  Rossi. Caprirossi finished right behind Dovizioso in 5th place, which was a phenomenal result for a Suzuki factory bike.

Pedrosa crashed out with a nasty highside, after his slicks were still warming up. He appears to have re-injured a pre-existing hip injury.

The next race is June 14, in Catalunya, hopefully on a dry track!

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.

Holy crap! Waiting the couple of extra days to see the first race of the 2009 season, was worth it. Stoner won by a solid margin. Rossi finished second, and second year rookie Lorenzo, took the last podium spot. Once Rossi fought his way up through the pack, he was able to keep a consistent gap between himself and Stoner. At times, he was even able to close it, a bit. It was clear though, that Rossi’s abuse to the tires getting into second position, prevented him from closing on Stoner at the end of the race. Just judging from this race, it appears that the 2009 season will be a fierce battle between Rossi and Stoner for the championship.

It is hard to make that kind of prediction, given all of the injuries and the incoming rookies. Pedrosa was riding with an injured left knee. I’m sure that it didn’t help being slammed into by De Angelis after running wide in a left hand corner. It was amazing the Pedrosa was even able to keep his bike on 2 wheels after that one. Hayden, was riding with several injuries sustained in a very ugly high-side crash sustained during practice.

There were a couple of rookie riders that were shooting the lights out. Andrea Dovizioso, Pedrosa new teammate, rode the wheels off of is Factory Honda Monday night finishing fifth. De Angelis, crossed the line right behind Dovizioso in 6th. Both rookies had very impressive rides. Lorenzo was also looking very promising with his third place finish. He is looking strong agian, after a his first season in GP, last year was plagued with several serious injuries. Yuki Takahasi (pictured below), another rookie, earned 1 GP world championship point finishing 15th.

Other Veteran in this race had varied results. Caprirossi actually got a great start and mainted second place for several laps. His race ended early, however, after a walk-away low-side tumble. Edwards finished just off the podium in 4th. Returning veteran, and nemesis of Rossi, Sete Gibernau, had an unimpressive performance finishing 13th. Here is a link to the full results.

The next race is slated for April 26th at Motegi Japan.

[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.

I know that this may be a little bit premature, but this morning I was reading about Hayden’s move to Ducati and I really started to get excited. In a pre-season interview, Hayden talked about looking forward to the 2009 season, and having Casey Stoner as a team mate. Hayden also addressed the fact that the Ducati GP9 is a very difficult bike. He admitted that he was a bit nervous when he signed with Ducati, because of this aspect, but followed up by stating that testing has been going better than he expected. I feel like, with this move, and Gibernau returning, Rossi is going to have his work cut out for him this year.