for balanced discussion, calm comment and objective analysis of what has happened and what is to come. It's too early for that. So instead, here's some wild and unreliable guesswork, based on pure speculation and gut feeling. It's time for my2007 Moto

's hope of revenge against Rossi? That is a much longer and more complex story.Alberto Puig, Pedrosa's Svengali-like mentor and friend, let slip a glimpse of the underlying problems in comments he made after the race, blaming Hayden for causing the crash

to spend.Superbike SpendingThere's an interesting parallel with World Superbikes here. Many commentators have pointed out that Superbike racing is vastly cheaper than MotoGP, and have pointed to WSBK as a model for MotoGP to follow. And it's true

is to reclaim the World Championship crown. Yet Rossi did not look happy, despite taking back the championship lead from Dani Pedrosa, and limiting the damage from Stoner. After the race, he commented that the team needed to improve their qualifying performance

manufacturers have tested, and two tracks where no one had tested, the next arena of combat is Le Mans, a track where Michelin has "more data than NASA," in the words of Eurosport commentator Julian Ryder. If Michelin cannot win here, they are in real trouble

potentially fatal hurdles to leap. Several riders mentioned the situation in Tibet at the Estoril race, with Loris Capirossi commenting that he'd like to show his support for the Tibetan cause at the race in Shanghai. With the Chinese authorities currently

If there was one thing that commentators, fans and team managers alike could agree on prior to the 2007 MotoGP season, it was that this was to be the year of the former 250 riders. The season that we switched from the point-and-squirt 990s

are surrounded by is not the pattern of history, but the strands of the stories we impose upon it, as we have done from the dawn of time.There was no shortage of pompous pronouncements going into the Shanghai round of MotoGP. Every journalist, commentator, fan

, to tuck in behind Casey Stoner on the Ducati, who was off to yet another lightning start from 3rd on the grid. Once out of the chicane, Rossi was on Stoner, and past at the La Chappelle right hander, exactly as the script, written by fans and commentators

celebration. Nieto is present at every Grand Prix, working as a commentator for Spanish TV, and was waiting at the Chicane in a special set of leathers. Rossi stopped, picked up a flag bearing the words "90 + 90" - the sum total of victories between the two