Motegi circuit in Japan is a funny track. It's been described as a sreies of drag strips linked with corners, and that's not far off the mark. Built as a test circuit for Honda, Motegi is technical but not really complicated. All the corners have a constant radius and all are reasonably clear to see. But there are complications bought on by the changes in elevation enjoyed by some of the circuit. So an uphill, positively cambered hairpin leads onto a fast downhill straight with a ninety degree off camber downhill right hander at the other end. It does all make for an interesting challenge, and many, many riders come unstuck on the deceptively straightforward looking corners. It's safe, though, which is a good thing. It's also a circuit that will be familiar to anyone with any racing game on their PC or console as almost every game ever made includes it.

Japan in October is generally warm and dry, and this weekend proved to be no exception. Which meant, of course, that Valentino Rossi would be at something of a disadvantage. The Doctor needs an operation on his shoulder to get things back as they should be. Muscle and ligament injuries are frequently more of a problem than actual breaks as they can't be pinned or splinted, just rested and left to heal on their own. Not good if you happen to be a MotoGP racer. So while his leg is perfectly OK after that nasty break earlier in the year, his shoulder gives him grief when he brakes hard. And of course a track which is basically a series of linked drag strips takes a heck of a lot of hard braking. So we didn't expect a great deal from the outgoing World Champion this weekend.

Of course we're talking about Valentino Rossi. So he topped the timesheets in the first free practice session, ahead of Dovizioso, Stoner, Spies and local boy Hiroshi Aoyama. Perhaps more important, though, on just his third lap after leaving the pits, Dani Pedrosa's throttle jammed open on the Honda, leaving him unable to slow down enough for a corner. He crashed hard, breaking his collarbone into three segments and taking no more part in the weekend's activities.

The second session saw Lorenzo take to the top for the first time, followed by Dovizioso and Rossi. The champion really did seem determined to confound the sceptics and make something special of this weekend at a circuit which has always been one of his favourites. Casey Stoner also seemed to be doing well with a brace of fourth places in practice, in marked contrast to his team-mate Nicky Hayden who was bumping around in tenth or worse, unable to get the Ducati working properly.

Qualifying, as you know, is the first part of the weekend that really matters. Assuming you don't fall off and hurt yourself or wreck the bike, that is. And with perennial fast qualifier Pedrosa out of the picture, it was fellow Honda pilot Andrea Dovizioso who was left to fly the flag at Honda's home track. And fly the flag he did, taking his first ever MotoGP pole in a thrilling four way fight with Stoner and the Fiat Yamaha team. When the dust settled and the first tantrums of the weekend began, Dovi had pipped Stoner by just five hundredths of a second and Rossi had pushed Lorenzo onto the second row - the first time he'd not started at the front this season - by a tenth. Lorenzo was not happy. So with the first row settled, the rest went like this. Lorenzo led the all Yamaha second row from Colin Edwards and Ben Spies. De Puniet sat on row three ahead of Simoncelli and Bautista, while Capirossi headed the fourth row from Nicky Hayden and Marco Melandri.

Warmup isn't that important, but did give Dovizioso the important psychological advantage of being fastest first thing in the morning, ahead of Lorenzo, Stoner and Edwards, with Rossi fifth.

And so on to the race itself. The weather was clear, sunny and warm. the wind was light, humidity wasn't going to be a problem. In short, it was ideal racing weather. Lights out and without Pedrosa to spoil it all from behind, the first corner was reasonably predictable. In fact, Stoner got the drive and made it in first ahead of Dovi while Lorenzo managed to get around the outside of Rossi and squeeze him back to fourth. The good thing was that, despite it all being very tight, nobody came to grief. In fact, everyon stayed on board for the whole race, though lap three saw Ben Spies and Nicky hayden get tangled and both run wide onto the gravel. Both rides were able to rejoin, but while Spies seemed not to lose much time or rhythm, Hayden took an age to rejoin and obviolsy had some ongoing bike problem that stopped him really capitalising on the Ducati's undoubted performance.

Up at the front, we were getting the treat, increasingly rare these days, of some seriously close racing. Stoner was completely unabe to break Dovi, the Honda rider remaining tantalisingly close the whole time, while a couple of seconds behind we had another knife fight taking place between Lorenzo and Rossi. And this time Rossi was coming out on top, injury or not, as he got passed the Spaniard on lap six and set about hunting down the leaders.

But it wasn't to be. Stoner and Dovizioso never put a wheel wrong, and gradually managed to pull away from the battling team-mates behind. And what a battle there was. After Rossi slipped past Lorenzo, there was never more than half a second between them, and most of the time there was barely a tenth. What had started off as a close race rapidly degenerated into a barely contained brawl as both riders pushed hard for the last podium spot. Hard enough that paint was swapped on several occasions. Hard enough that normal team loyalties were probably rather stretched. Hard enough that Lorenzo's onboard camera at one point showed that Rossi was virtually on both bikes. It was brutal and showed above anything else just how enormously skilled the two riders are. And how much respect they must have for each other's abilities, even if not for their person...

In a scrap like that there can be only one winner, though. And this time it was Rossi who came out on top, crossing the line half a second ahead of Lorenzo, who should console himself with opening an additional thirteen point lead over Pedrosa, the only man who could possibly derail his championship assault.

Behind the leading group, the next fight had been going on for fifth. Colin Edwards, after a race-long battle, took his best result of the season from Marco Simoncelli who in turn prevailed over Alvaro Bautista. Loris Capirossi, who had also been pushing hard in the same group battle, had the unfortunate honour of being the only non finisher as an electrical problem robbed his Suzuki of full, and ultimately any, power and left him on the sidelines. Behind Bautista, Ben Spies had made excellent progress back up through a consistently fast field, sneaking ahead of Randy de Puniet and immediately pulling clear, while the top ten was appropriately rounded out by Hiroshi Aoyama in his home round.

So now we go to Malaysia for the next back-to-back race. It'll be hot and humid again, probably. Rossi's fitness will remain an issue, but not as much as Pedrosa's. All Lorenzo needs to do is finish ninth to secure the title, so while there's everything to play for, Pedrosa needs little short of a miracle to lift it this time.

We'll have to see..

SB

Motegi MotoGP Results

1. Casey Stoner (Ducati)
2. Andrea Dovizioso(Honda)
3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)
4. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)
5. Colin Edwards (Yamaha)
6. Marco Simoncelli (Honda)
7. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki)
8. Ben Spies (Yamaha)
9. Randy de Puniet (Honda)
10. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda)

MotoGP standings (after fourteen rounds)

1. Jorge Lorenzo 297
2. Dani Pedrosa 228
3. Casey Stoner 180
4. Andrea Dovizioso 159
5. Valentino Rossi 156
6. Ben Spies 139
7. Nicky Hayden 129
8. Randy de Puniet 88
9. Marco Simoncelli 84
10. Colin Edwards 81