motorcycle racing is all about: off-track mayhem and on-track action, all under a hot southern sun. The Phoney War is over, and battle is about to be joined in full force. Roll on Sunday.Read more of David Emmett's articles over on MotoGPMatters.com

the seemingly impossible. The Jerez MotoGP round was just such an occasion. Many questions had been answered at the opening race at Qatar, but in their answering, many others had been raised: Was Ducati's horsepower advantage the definitive blow of the season

is off traveling the world, but when it visits its spiritual home it becomes almost explosive. The Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez is testament to that. Over a quarter of a million people throng the ancient streets of the Spanish town, and on Sunday, over

entertainment, but they need not despair. For to experience bedlam in its fullest and most glorious sense, they need only make their way down to Jerez for the weekend of the MotoGP Gran Premio de Espana. For on that weekend, the first weekend that the Moto

After the bizarre, ghostly night race at Qatar and the seething cauldron at Jerez, MotoGP returns to some semblance of normality when it visits Estoril for the Portuguese Grand Prix. At Qatar, the night race entered completely unknown territory

at the Malaysian track. After the tropical Malay heat, it was time to return to the more temperate climes of southern Spain, for the final test session before the official winter testing ban set in on December 1st. At Jerez the patchwork changed again

the advantage round the twistier rear section. At Jerez, the roles were reversed, with the Ducati struggling to make up for the Yamaha's agility. This weekend, at Istanbul, we are likely to see the best of both worlds, with the faster Ducatis and, to a lesser

at Shanghai last year, becoming the second-youngest MotoGP winner of all time. But despite Pedrosa's excellent outings at both Qatar and Jerez, the Spanish wunderkind arrives in China with some serious handicaps. First and foremost, Pedrosa is suffering

at Jerez in 2005, which basically disengages the clutch under braking, leaving the bike with no engine braking at all. The advantage to this design is the significant reduction in fuel consumption under braking, but the disadvantage comes when you let

his title defense off to the best possible start, Dani Pedrosa's pleasure at taking second, and Jorge Lorenzo's joy at getting on the podium in his first MotoGP race. And at Jerez there was Dani Pedrosa's delight at winning in front of an ecstatic home