By Matt Roberts BBC MotoGP reporter

Could Crutchlow be flying the flag in MotoGP earlier than planned?

Great Britain's Cal Crutchlow travels to Valencia this week ready to begin testing with the Tech 3 Yamaha team next Tuesday.

But he will also be on stand-by for an earlier-than-expected MotoGP debut should Ben Spies be ruled out with his ankle injury.

With the top three positions in the championship now all but sorted thanks to Casey Stoner's crash at Estoril, excitement within the paddock is focusing mainly on the Valencia end-of-season test, which will see Valentino Rossi and Stoner making their debuts on the Ducati and Honda respectively, as well as Crutchlow's first public appearance on the Yamaha.

Rossi will be supported by his trusted pit crew, led by Jerry Burgess, who have all been released from their Yamaha contracts to join Ducati early.

Space in the Italian factory garage has been made by Stoner's engineers, who are following the Australian to Honda.

Crutchlow began preparations for his rookie MotoGP season last week with a one-and-a-half day test on the YZR-M1 at Yamaha's test track in Fukuroi, Japan.

Despite mixed weather, he had a chance to ride on both full wet and slick tyres and took the opportunity to practice starts with the M1's launch control system.

"The M1 felt a lot smaller than my Yamaha R1 superbike," said Crutchlow.

"I actually found the positioning more comfortable than the WSB machine. There is a lot of power but it feels very useable, it felt very different to a production based machine in terms of its delivery.

"I found the chassis very stiff, it was really easy to change direction and the electronics were really different. I'm really looking forward to the Valencia test so I can get back on it and give it a proper work out!"

Loris Capirossi will be back on board a Ducati at the test, having confirmed a deal with the Pramac Racing team last Thursday at Estoril.

Capirossi won six races and scored 16 podiums for the Ducati factory team between 2003 and 2006, but was released after a disappointing first season on the 800cc Desmosedici in 2007, when his team-mate Stoner romped to the title.

Capirossi and Suzuki are going their separate ways this winter

An announcement on Capirossi's new team-mate should be made in Valencia, with Randy de Puniet expected to take the seat following the news that current occupant Aleix Espargaro is heading to the Moto2 team run by Sito Pons.

Team LCR Honda have already announced de Puniet's replacement, with Toni Elias returning to the premier class after winning the Moto2 world championship at the first attempt.

Hiroshi Aoyama is poised to join Team Gresini in place of World Superbike-bound Marco Melandri, and with the withdrawal of the Interwetten Honda team and Suzuki looking certain to have just one rider, the 2011 grid is now virtually complete.

The new Moto2 line-up is also taking shape, with the FIM confirming on Sunday the list of invited teams, which will ensure a field of 40 riders on the grid next year.

One of them looks likely to be World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu, who made an impressive Grand Prix debut in Portugal as the Technomag CIP team finally chose to replace the late Shoya Tomizawa.

Sofuoglu qualified on the front row and battled for the lead in the race before fading in the final stages and caught the attention of several teams, including Team Gresini, who are looking for a high quality replacement for the departing Elias.

British teenager Bradley Smith will also be on the intermediate category grid next year after signing with the Tech 3 team.

Smith is guaranteed a top-four finish in this year's 125cc championship

The experienced French outfit have had a disastrous first season running their own chassis but they are due to roll out a brand new version at the Valencia test, with Colin Edwards scheduled to ride it and give his feedback.

Smith's team-mate will be Mike Di Meglio, who had a weekend to forget in Portugal.

The Frenchman decided not to ride in the rain on Friday because it was "too much of a risk", even though the majority of the Moto2 field saw fit to complete a couple of laps on slick tyres.

It turned out that the bigger gamble was his decision not to ride when a crash at the start of free practice on Saturday morning meant he was unable to improve his time any further.

When qualifying was cancelled due to the adverse weather in the afternoon the former 125cc world champion found himself more than 7% off pole and outside the qualification limit.

After entertaining the crowd with the fastest time and a Glastonbury-esque body surf through the mud following a crash in Friday's first free practice, Scott Redding also went for the safety first option in the afternoon.

The decision also backfired on him and it was only thanks to his pace in the wet that he qualified at all, down in 25th position.

However, the British teenager enhanced his growing reputation with a masterclass in overtaking, making up four positions on only one lap - the 21st of 26 - as he charged into podium contention.

His pace at that stage was almost two seconds per lap quicker than Stefan Bradl and Alex Baldolini, who had escaped at the front, and with an eight-second deficit to make up the possibility of an unthinkable victory was on.

However, thick traffic in a combative seven-rider scrap for third place held up his charge, Redding missing out on the podium by just 0.012 seconds to Alex de Angelis.

However, the performance of the weekend, and possibly the season unquestionably came from Marc Marquez, who took a remarkable victory that leaves him within eight points of the 125cc world championship going into the final race.

Marquez celebrates his remarkable win in Portugal

The 17-year-old started 11th on the grid but was already up to second place when the race was red-flagged after six laps because of rain.

As the shower passed, the race was restarted in dry conditions but disaster struck for Marquez, who crashed on the sighting lap, severely damaging his bike, with the fairing hanging off and exhaust destroyed.

Chaotic scenes followed in the pit-lane as his Derbi team somehow managed to get the necessary repairs done in three minutes, allowing Marquez to make it back out in time, but starting from the back of a reduced grid of 17 riders.

A sensational start saw him fourth into the first corner and he quickly chased down his title rival Nico Terol and Terol's team-mate Smith.

Far from being intimidated by the pair or exercising caution following previous events, Marquez battled throughout and produced a perfectly timed pass on Terol to take the win on the final lap.

"It was an unusual race," he reflected with an air of understatement.

"I crashed like a junior but thankfully I have an experienced team and they were able to fix the bike in two minutes.

"I started last and my aim was to try to score points but after such a good start I saw that it was going well and I thought that if I could win, I was going to try.

"On the last lap, I decided to give it my all, I won and I took a significant step forward in the championship, but it's not over yet".

Incidentally, the crash wasn't Marquez's only rookie error of the weekend requiring a rescue job from his mechanics.

On Saturday evening he accidentally filled his scooter with brake cleaner instead of fuel, leaving them to fix it long into the night.

A desperate gamble by Pol Espargaro, who went for wet tyres in the restarted race in the hope it would rain again, backfired and he could only struggle to 10th place, meaning Terol is now the only man who can stop Marquez.

An eighth place finish this Sunday will make the Spaniard the final world champion of 2010 although a win would equal Rossi's all-time record of 11 for the season, set back in 1997.

On the evidence of last Sunday, you wouldn't put it past him.

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