Estoril - The Portugese MotoGP

Just to let you know that there is other racing going on this weekend. Yes, I know there is a small chance that Jenson could be World Champion, and I'll tune into the highlights to see how he went [i'm definitely not waking up early only to be sent back to sleep]. Valentino has a chance to put the first letters of his name on the World Championship trophy this weekend too. I'll definitely be watching that one LIVE.

Question: Anyone one heard of Chicken Strips, when referred to a motorcycle..? I finally lost mine through Dorset, on the way back from a break in Cornwall, this week.

Well I can honestly say that today's 800cc race was the boring of the whole season, even given the fact that Casey Stoner magnificently came in 2nd. It was just processional, almost F1 like. Sure there was overtaking, but the race was effectively over with 20 laps to go. I won't bother you with details other than: 1. Lorenzo, 2. Stoner, 3. Pedrosa and 4. Rossi, who had problems with his bike. JT came in 9th. News about him later.

Happily, the 250cc race before it was better, and the 125cc, currently running, is a real cracker, so I'm gone.

Update: Bradley Smith came in 3rd, after the lead changed countless times. Smith led 2 or 3 times himself. But the 125cc bikes just slipstream, and it takes a heck of a lot to get away from a bunch of riders. It's a lesson that other motorsports ruling bodies could learn, because it makes for very good racing at worst, and absolutely cracking racing at best.

The news on James Toseland is that he lost his ride in MotoGP next season with the Yamaha Tech 3 team. Looking back down this season, the evidence was there, and many people were predicting that he hadn't done enough. Only he seemed to think he had, at times. I thought it was very much in the balance, and only Ben Spies deciding to transfer from WSB finally swung it.

He has been offered another ride with Pramac Ducati, but has already turned it down. To my mind, that's a mistake, because JT is one of probably the 20 best riders in the world, and there are slower riders who will be competing next season. Basically, there are too few bikes on the premier class grid. JT should be there, but he's to go back to World Superbikes, still riding for Yamaha, changing from the M1, to the R1 [production bike derived from the prototype M1 with less power and more weight], to try to equal or better Carl Fogarty's record of 4 World Championships in that class. IMO, that's the last we'll see of JT in MotoGP, and the last British rider until Bradley Smith, Scott Redding, Danny Webb, or even potential WSS Champion Cal Crutchlow, come up through the ranks.