...Jerez. Now the Spanish circuit has delivered us a mixed bag over the last few years as MotoGP overall has become a little more processional and less exciting.

This year started off looking as though it would be more of the same. Practice saw the top spot shared between Pedrosa and Stoner, with Lorenzo paying the occasional visit and an early session also seeing Valentino Rossi making a foray toward the front. But in all honesty there was precious little to suggest any excitement.

Qualifying didn't help. Casey Stoner took pole from Pedrosa who in turn took it from Lorenzo. There was no to-ing and fro-ing, no real tension, just devastatingly effective performances from three riders at the top of their game. Impressive, for sure, but not really exciting. Front row, then, Stoner, Pedrosa, Lorenzo. Second row Ben Spies from Marco Simoncelli and Andrea Dovizioso. The third row was headed by Randy de Puniet on the leading Ducati - a Pramac machine again - with Colin edwards and Cal Crutchlow on the pair of Tech3 Yamahas. Then the fourth row had Hiroshi Aoyama in tenth ahead of Nicky Hayden and Rossi on the factory Ducatis. It is worth mentioning John Hopkins, who has returned to the Rizla Suzuki squad, deputising for the injured Alvaro Bautista. Hopper qualified in a highly respectable fourteenth, pretty impressive on a bike he'd never seen before this weekend.

So we were set for a possibly interesting but probably not exciting race as we went to bed on Saturday night. And woke up on Sunday to leaden skies and sodden ground. Yes, it was raining. And then some. With virtually no wet weather data for the teams and several riders having little or no wet weather experience in their bikes or even in some cases in this class, it was going to be a great leveller. Plus, of course, the smoother riding needed would help people carrying injuries like Rossi and Pedrosa.

Warmup was still headed by Stoner, but just half a second split him from second placed Valentino Rossi. Hmm. Maybe this could get interesting then. Nicky Hayden and Cal Crutchlow both also shone in the wet conditions, as did Hopper while Spies, Pedrosa and Aoyama all seemed less enthusiastic.

On to the race, then.

About as difficult a set of circumstances as you could imagine greeted the riders as they lined up. the track was still wet, but it seemed to be stopping raining. Stay on wets or intermediates? Keep the waterproof oversuit on or risk getting cold for the extra freedom of losing it? As it happened, everyone stayed on wets though a few gambled on losing the oversuit. They're pretty nasty to wear because apart from anything else you sweat like crazy inside them, so you end up wet anyway. Just wet and smelly. But I digress.

Lights out and it was Casey Stoner who got straight to the front, ahead of Lorenzo, Simoncelli and Dovizioso. The big loser at the start was Pedrosa who ended up going backwards and finished the first lap in ninth place. Rossi, meantime, made a storming start and although he got shuffled back a bit in the first corner melee, the former champion ended the lap eighth and well in contention. Nicky Hayden did even better, rocketing through to sixth in the first lap and looking more comfortable on the Ducati than we've ever seen him, I think. One lap later and he was behind Rossi as the latter carved through the field in a class of his own. The Doctor seemed to have something to prove... As did Marco Simoncelli, regularly the fastest guy out there, who went for and took the lead on lap six. Having reached the front the likeably eccentric Italian proceeded to gap the field quite comfortably. And that's when things started to get, well, complicated.

Rossi was riding like an absolute demon, the wet weather easing the strain on his injured shoulder and the Ducati clearly working properly for perhaps the first time. The Doctor was soon all over the back of Lorenzo's Yamaha, and after just one lap he slipped past nice and cleanly to take third. The next scalp to fall would be Stoner, and at the end of the start/finish straight on the very next lap Rossi made his move, getting the inside line and making the pass on the entry to the first corner. Then it all went wrong as, in a very rare mistake, Rossi overcooked it, lost the front and slid out taking the hapless Stoner with him. Rossi was briefly stuck under the bike before being helped out by the marshals, but was able to remount and get going again. Stoner was less fortunate. Though the Australian was unhurt and his bike appeared virtually undamaged, the Honda refused to start and Stoner's race was run. Which left Simoncelli with a huge lead over second placed Lorenzo with Nicky Hayden an incredulous third.

Four laps later and it was Simoncelli's turn to throw his bike into the scenery as he highsided and landed hard. He was probably pretty sore but not really injured, but the Honda wasn't going anywhere in a hurry. Which left Lorenzo in the lead by two falls and a submission. And with a huge gap back to the rest of the field, the Spaniard was able to relax and run at his own pace. Which he did, all the way to the chequered flag.

But that's not half of it. There were some seriously career defining rides going on further back. ben Spies was on the move, surgically picking off riders one by one until he was looking at a podium to give us a Yamaha one-three. One three? Yes, because Dani Pedrosa had got some sort of second wind after dropping down through the field and had suddenly reappeared in second. Then a few laps from the end Spies passed Pedrosa to put the blue machines first and second. I can't remember the last time Yamaha even got close to a one two finish. But it wasn't to be today, as on the very next lap the treacherous conditions caught the Texan out and dumped him unceremoniously in the gravel.

Further back on another Yamaha, new boy Cal Crutchlow was also having a cracking race as he first despatched his team-mate Colin Edwards and then opened a fair old gap before also sliding off. He was able to remount and rode a brilliant end of the race to take the rather second hand looking Tech3 Yamaha to a respectable eighth place, albeit not as good as the fifth (at least) he would have had if he'd stayed on.

There was a huge fight going on for ninth for most of the race, with Randy de Puniet, Hiroshi Aoyama, Loris Capirossi, John Hopkins, Hector Barbera and Karel Abraham all in there and all fractions of a second apart. Randy de Puniet dropped out in his normal inimitable style at about half distance, while Abraham went off into the gravel which cost him time and position. But it was one heck of a fight, only briefly spoiled as Valentino Rossi carved through the middle of it on his way to a magnificent fifth place finish.

Back up at the front, then, we had Lorenzo leading Pedrosa with Colin Edwards third. OK, so still on for a Yamaha one-three then. Until Edwards' Yamaha just stopped on the last lap. Colin Edwards is one of the nicest guys on the grid, as well as one of the hardest working and that was a rotten piece of luck that he really didn't deserve - it's been way too long since we've seen him on the podium and this should have bene the day. Edwards' retirement gifted third place to Nicky Hayden, who has also had something of a podium drought in recent times, just ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama who had managed to break away from the pursuing pack and make some space. Behind Aoyama was Rossi, who had been circulating a full two seconds a lap faster than the leaders and would surely have won the race were it not for his mistake at the beginning. Barbera held off Abraham for sixth, with Crutchlow a respectable eighth, Tony Elias ninth and John Hopkins tenth on his one off return to Suzuki.

So an interesting and exciting race, if not necessarily for the right reasons. We're at Estoril next - traditionally a rather sterile race. Let's see what happens, shall we?

Result

1 Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)
2 Dani Pedrosa (Honda)
3 Nicky Hayden (Ducati)
4 Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda)
5 Valentino Rossi (Ducati)
6 Hector Barbera (Ducati)
7 Karel Abraham (Ducati)
8 Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha)
9 Toni Elias (Honda)
10 John Hopkins (Suzuki)

Championship Standing after two rounds:

1 Jorge Lorenzo 45
2 Dani Pedrosa 36
3 Casey Stoner 25
4 Nicky Hayden 23
5 Valentino Rossi 20
6 Hiroshi Aoyama 19
7 Andrea Dovizioso 17
8 Hector Barbera 14
9 Cal Crutchlow 13
10 Karel Abraham 12

SB