 Dovizioso was a shock winner in the rain at Donington last time out |
You can't imagine what it was like riding in those conditions at the British Grand Prix at Donington last time out. Whoever stayed on did a great job, and the result really stirred up the title race. For Andrea Dovizioso to win was quite extraordinary, but in some ways we must be glad Valentino Rossi fell off - he got back on and came fifth but at least he didn't romp away with it - because his main rivals had a shocking day. Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner were the biggest losers of the weekend. Jorge fell off through a mistake he knows was his own fault, and Casey's choice of wet weather tyres was a very strange one - it was an 80-20 gamble, and he went for the 20. He was in the hunt for the championship and had a chance to do really well at Donington, but by making that choice, it was like he gave up before he began. By coming 14th, he was the biggest loser of the lot - even more so as he's not going to be riding in the next three races.  | CZECH MOTOGP Saturday 15 August Qualifying: Qualifying: 1150-1500, BBC Red Button/online Sunday 16 August 125cc and 250cc races: 0950-1205, BBC Red Button/online Race live: 1230-1400, BBC Two/online; MotoGP Extra, 1400-1430, BBC Red Button/online |
Health-wise, he clearly feels something is very wrong and he doesn't want to compete when he's 80% fit. It must be that his condition is worse than we thought. Pulling out of the next three races is a radical move as he he'd been finishing on the podium despite this bug, so for Ducati to back the decision is a massive thing. After their success in recent years, they've had so much bad luck this year, they must be wondering what ladder someone walked under. It's gone completely pear-shaped and they've got sponsors to answer to, so there must have been a lot of meetings going on before this decision was taken. No-one else knows what goes on in Casey's head when he's on that bike, so we just have to accept his decision on his fitness. The other big talking point at the moment is Jorge's future - to stay with Yamaha or to move on. From a spectator point of view, I'd love to see him go to Honda as then we'd see some real battles with Valentino. | 606: DEBATE |
But if I was him, I'd stay as he's got the same tools in the box and if he wants to prove he's the best in the world, he knows he should do it on the same equipment - then he knows in his own mind that he's better than Valentino, and you get the feeling that that's what he wants. After that he can earn the megabucks Valentino is on. At the moment he's earning considerably less and is upset about it, but who sells more bikes? Rossi does - he's the bigger star, so I don't see the issue.  Other riders' futures could depend upon Lorenzo's decision |
Once Lorenzo decides other teams' plans will fall into place as it filters down, and we desperately hope James Tosleand gets some benefit from it at Tech 3 Yamaha. I think James' chances of a new deal are 50-50 at the moment. I know he's keen to stay there and he might have to take a wage cut to do so, but it's about the bigger picture - if he goes out of MotoGP, he'd struggle to get back. I'm sure Ducati will stick with Nicky Hayden, though - they're fed up with chopping and changing their second rider, it looks silly, and he's proven he can ride a bike and the US market is very important to them. It'll be interesting for Nicky this weekend to see how he responds to Casey's replacement Mika Kallio - this time he won't have someone two second faster than him, but someone very close to him. Despite all that's happened, the title race is far from over. There's still an awful lot can happen - Valentino only needs one race where his bike packs up, then he could fall off and break his collarbone the following week. There are still hundreds of points on the table but he does seem lucky - there's a massive way to go yet but I've never seen him have much bad luck. If he fell in a cess pit, he'd come up with a salmon on his head. Brno is a great track with plenty of room for overtaking so we should see a cracking race. It's quite a long track and everyone should be refreshed after the break, so I'm expecting a belting race this weekend. I'm going for Jorge this weekend, and it's a gut feeling, because he's getting madder and madder so he's either going to win or crash. Last year he was beaten up and could hardly ride a bike but he's so determined and sooner or later he's got to turn the tables on Valentino.
Brno prediction:
1) Jorge Lorenzo 2) Valentino Rossi 3) Dani Pedrosa Steve Parrish was talking to BBC Sport's Julian Shea.
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