By Matt Roberts BBC Sport at Le Mans

Damn hitch-hikers - they get everywhere ...

Well, on Sunday they must have enjoyed a double dose of medicine, with 28 laps of nail-biting action and another win for The Doctor, his first back-to-back wins since Mugello and Barcelona - the next two races in this year's calendar - in 2006.

Rossi's warm-down lap as pillion to Spanish legend Angel Nieto was something special.

With 90 career wins each, although Nieto's successes came in the 50cc, 80cc and 125cc classes, the pair are level second in the all-time grand prix winners' list, 32 victories short of the overall record held by Giacomo Agostini.

Rossi says his next target is the premier class record, which is also held by Ago, with 68.

But if Rossi continues to enjoy racing as much he is now there is every chance he will be around long enough to take the lot.

His thoughts on the matter? "It will be difficult, but not impossible." With Rossi, nothing is.

And now a new section for this column: 'Quote of the Weekend'.

You can take the man out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the man

Kicking this off is Colin Edwards.

Colin was uncharacteristically flustered at the end of qualifying on Saturday, when a potential pole lap was baulked by Marco Melandri, who was cruising on the racing line.

Marco was on the receiving end of some pretty expressive hand gestures from the American but can think himself lucky the repercussions weren't worse.

"Maybe he forgot I'm from Texas, so I usually carry a gun. It's a good job I didn't have one because damn sure I would have shot him," joked Edwards afterwards.

Dani Pedrosa's frustration at not getting the pneumatic valve engine he has been asking Honda for since the start of the season won't have eased after a disappointing fourth place.

To be fair, it seems Dani's main problem in the race at Le Mans was caused by a change in the grip levels after rainfall during the morning.

That may change at the next race at Mugello, though, with veteran test rider Tady Okada pencilled in for a wildcard appearance.

I can't imagine there being any point to that other than a first race run for the pneumatic valve engine, to either ease or confirm Honda's worries about reliability.

Speaking of wildcards, Suzuki have confirmed AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies will make his MotoGP debut this year.

He will make guest appearances at Laguna Seca and Indianapolis and he could be joined in at least one of those by Britain's Chaz Davies.

Chaz continues to impress Kawasaki with his efforts in American racing and could be given a wildcard, depending on whether first choice Roger Lee Hayden - Nicky's brother - recovers from fractures to his pelvis and back, on top of having a pinkie finger amputated.

Fashion watchers among you may have noticed that Jorge Lorenzo started the season wearing red boots, gloves and helmet for practice, changing to gold for the race.

Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, Lorenzo loves his ruby slippers

Because he didn't win either of those races, he decided to stay in red for the race in Portugal and, of course, he won.

Being superstitious, as most riders are, and despite breaking his ankle in the red boots in China, he had hoped to continue with them at Le Mans.

But all the extra strapping around both ankles meant he had to move up a size and the only pair available were in gold.

That brought him two more crashes and an amazing podium in France, so don't be surprised to see one of each at Mugello!

Finally, with the football season off the agenda for another summer, Newcastle United striker Alan Smith took a chance to catch the MotoGP action at Le Mans, having previously camped out with his friends at Jerez last season.

He came over on Thursday's overnight ferry but only just made it after watching the Carlisle v Leeds play-off semi-final in a pub.

"If they'd gone to extra-time we'd have missed the boat!" he said.

A proper MotoGP fan and, despite what some people in Leeds might still think, a proper football fan.