There is a new trumpeting sound to be heard at the GPs. It comes not only from the high-level four-into-one tailpipe of Yamaha's new four-stroke GP bike, but also from the same factory's publicity machine. Though, after the first few races, this has

by Yamaha, dismayed Tech 3 team boss Hervé Poncharal, who was more than pleased with the 2007 progress of his own protégé, fellow-Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli, who has now gone to Ducati.I enjoyed watching Michael Schumacher belting round Valencia on a

Let's assume that Max Biaggi is the second best GP rider in the world and the Yamaha the second best GP bike - behind, obviously, Valentino Rossi and the Honda. An over-simplification, for the sake of argument and not a million miles from the truth

develop, the more similar they become. The 500 era showed that, with V4 two-strokes all round. They were the URM - Universal Racing Motorcycle. MotoGP four-strokes arrived with a refreshing mechanical diversity. Aprilia had an inline three, Yamaha

, Pedrosa was the fastest of the Honda riders - including Melandri and Hayden.That was at Sepang in Malaysia, and it made me laugh out loud. True, Rossi went faster still on his new Yamaha, and in overall times the double 250 champ ended up third, because

come in the future."It was four years ago Yamaha's then chief of racing, Toshimitsu Iio, articulated this thought, at the same time as he was breaking the first news of the forthcoming four-stroke takeover of the 500 class, striking the death knell

This was history. And just in case nobody had noticed, the shout from new-generation GP bikes - the complex throb of the Honda, the rude-boy bluster of the Suzuki, the howl of the Yamaha and the smooth, shrill Aprilia - underlined the fact. Listen

narrowly saved). Rossi's wasp? He opened his visor, and it just flew out again without stinging him once. He won the race.Last year, the luck turned - if you call a serially wonky Yamaha and a couple of duff Michelins bad luck. There were other examples

a four or five, with a narrow angle in a monoblock cylinder casting - making it a virtual in-line, echoing Yamaha's virtual V4. It's almost certainly already running.Yamaha's state of readiness will be a major test of its new commitment to winning

Roberts Jr. slides his 990. Try that on an 800 says ScottIn your dreams, you can probably power-slide a sports bike on tar. Properly, I mean - using throttle control and footrest-weighting; pulling it upright to get on the fatter part of the tyre