By Matt Roberts BBC Sport at Estoril

Astronaut Lorenzo was over the moon after his latest victory...

Space cadet Jorge Lorenzo made a small step to the top of the podium and with it a giant leap towards the championship summit after a disastrous day for Valentino Rossi in Portugal.

Decked out in space-age white from head to toe, Lorenzo won from pole to claim his second straight Portuguese Grand Prix.

Rossi's weekend simply never got off the ground and the Italian was fuming after the race, refusing to speak to journalists for a full three hours after the chequered flag and locking himself in a lengthy debrief with Yahama's team engineers.

When he did finally face the media, he revealed that a set-up mistake was the reason behind one of the worst performances of his MotoGP career, finishing over 23 seconds shy of the race winner.

"We made a change to the bike to try and get it to turn better but in doing that we lost a lot of traction on the rear," explained Rossi.

"At full lean in the fast corners it was sliding around all over the place and I couldn't do anything. We have analysed why it happened and now the main thing for Phillip Island (Australia, 18 October) is not to think about the points advantage or how many races are left, but to get the bike working again."

An 18-point lead with three races means he remains a strong favourite to defend his title but Lorenzo, Stoner and Pedrosa will be ready to jump on anything less than a stellar performance Down Under.

Spies looks to have terminated Toseland's MotoGP career

It is unlikely the title will be decided until the final round at Valencia next month, but if it is there will still be plenty of interest in the race there, with the news that Ben Spies will line up for what, certainly in the view of James Toseland fans, will be a direct face-off with the Brit.

Spies' early arrival in MotoGP from World Superbikes is being accompanied by a fanfare of flattery from Yamaha, whose support for the American seemingly knows no bounds.

He will compete in Spain under the banner of the Yamaha Factory Racing Team, using YZR-M1 test bikes brought over from Japan, in a race that handily takes place two weeks after the final WSB round at Portimao, here in Portugal.

With the lack of winter testing time available due to economic cutbacks, the wildcard chance will be a vital opportunity for Spies to get extra circuit time before joining up with the Tech 3 Yamaha Team for a two-day test on the Tuesday and Wednesday after the race.

Stoner's return was nothing short of sensational

If Casey Stoner critics do still exist then surely they were definitively defied on Sunday by a sensational performance from the Australian, who blew away the cobwebs and the doubts engulfing his two-month illness lay-off.

Stoner is a natural and he took ridiculously little time to get back on the pace on Friday - even less to show he meant business in the race with a pass on Rossi just over a lap in, which had nothing to do with the Ducati's supposed horsepower 'advantage', a stick used to beat Stoner with in the past that is surely now redundant.

For the first time probably since he won the title in 2007, Stoner is truly enjoying his racing and that is bad news for anybody with designs on winning at Phillip Island, where he has been untouchable for the last two years.

Alex De Angelis retired from Sunday's race with what has still only been described as an 'electrical problem' by his team, who say that Honda engineers will be looking into it further this week.

However, Suzuki were able to clear up what happened to Loris Capirossi's bike, which they could only tell us had "just stopped" during our race broadcast.

The gear position sensor on the Italian's GSV-R machine failed, putting the bike's ECU into 'safe mode' giving Capirossi no option but to ride the bike back to the pits and retire.

Swiss team owner Daniel M Epp has confirmed he will run a Honda in MotoGP next year, with current 250cc World Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama on board.

"After winning the World Championship in 2005 with Tom Lüthi on the 125cc Honda, it's a great pleasure for me to join up again with Honda," announced Epp, who has run Lüthi on a factory Aprilia in the 250 class this season.

"Now, after all these years we have finally been able to achieve our dream of presenting a MotoGP project. We are proud to become part of the premier class of motorcycle Grand Prix racing."

Further details of the new project will be announced at the final round of the season in Valencia.

Aleix Espargar� has swapped teams

The first team entry list for the new Moto2 series was announced by the FIM at the weekend, with some interesting names catching the eye.

Amongst a total of 39 entries, with a further 10 places on reserve, were the likes of current MotoGP outfits, such as Hayate, Gresini Honda, Pramac Racing and Tech 3, as well as a welcome return to the paddock to Team Roberts.

However, it always amazes me how some of the Spanish and Italian teams clearly come up with their names without any consultation with an English speaker.

Amongst the daftest on the Moto2 list for next year are Sprint Tecnology Racing (sic), Stop and Go Racing and my personal favourite: Speedup Aprilia.

The latter is actually the factory-backed Aprilia effort, which had signed Aleix Espargaró until the Spaniard received an official approach from Pramac for their vacant MotoGP position.

Espargaró was given until 0900 on Sunday to wriggle out of his contract, which he duly did. Ironically, his rival for the Pramac ride - Alex de Angelis - is now being tipped to sign for Aprilia's World Superbike team.

Aleix's younger brother Pol made up for his misery at Misano last time out - when he was famously taken out on the final lap and then headbutted by Andrea Iannone - by taking a well-deserved victory in a 125cc race that saw Bradley Smith keep his slender title hopes alive with a hard-earned third place.

Smith profited from a rare mistake by World Champion elect Julian Simon, who looked to have the race wrapped up before inexplicably crashing out of the lead.

The Oxfordshire teenager must now finish ahead of the Spaniard at Phillip Island, Australia, in two weeks' time if he is to keep his challenge going for another race.

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