't expected to do this in his first year; 2006 was meant as a learning year, so he could get used to the ferocious power of a big four-stroke, and learn to set these bikes up properly, to be ready for his first serious title attempt in 2007. His team mate

by the developments which have taken place in tires. The changes mean that each rider will have to select 14 front and 17 rear tires on Thursday evening, to use over the course of 5 practice sessions and 1 race during the weekend. Considering that last season, riders

. The next lap, he was 1.6 seconds behind Pedrosa, then 1.75, then 2 seconds, then 2.4 seconds. Dani Pedrosa was pushing, and nothing Rossi did made a blind bit of difference. By the half way mark, Pedrosa was 4 seconds ahead, and still pulling away

man to be outbraked. The Suzuki man entered the twiddles section of Turns 12, 13 and 14 first, Elias and Rossi close behind. But Elias had plotted a different attack vector this time round, diving up the inside of Hopkins through the final Turn 14

and the track dried out even more, 1'59 began to beckon. Rossi was the first to crack the 2'00 minute barrier on lap 10, with Pedrosa following two laps later. Still with just a few tenths separating the pair, Rossi cranked up the pressure again, and again

at Donington was to recover some of his confidence, and he got a big chunk of that back on the first lap. Starting from a lowly 17th place on the grid, the reigning 250 world champion was up into 10th by the end of lap 1.As the pack thundered across the line

as the bikes flew off the line. But Lorenzo's outside line round Turns 1 and 2 left him in great position as they entered the short straight heading down to Turn 3. Braking for the third corner, Rossi suddenly found his team mate beside him, and moments later

and smooth all the way home.But the Spaniard's 2nd place was confirmation of his status as the 3rd best rider on the grid. Pedrosa has taken an astonishing 12 podiums this year, 1 more than the man who beat him. His weakness has been his inability to win

Rossi setting laps well into the 1'56s on race tires. Then, when qualifying came, Valentino Rossi shattered Casey Stoner's pole record from 2006 by nearly 7/10ths of a second. The only question left was how much quicker would the laps be in the race. We

facilities and an air-conditioned press area. Phillip Island, on the other hand, is like a trip back to the 1950s: The pit garages are about as sturdy as your average garden shed, the spectator seating consists mostly of grass, and the commentary positions