Pedrosa became the first pole sitter to win a race so far this season

By Matt Roberts BBC Sport MotoGP reporter at Mugello

Jorge Lorenzo had a picture of a tub of butter on his pit board last weekend to remind himself to ride smoothly - but on Sunday he simply melted as Dani Pedrosa turned up the heat at Mugello.

From under-pressure Honda exile two weeks ago - according to the Italian press, at least - Pedrosa has emerged as the main contender to his fellow Spaniard's likely dominance of this year's title chase in the sad absence of Lorenzo's Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi.

The Italian is not expected back until the Czech Grand Prix in August at the earliest after breaking his right leg during practice at Mugello.

That leaves the onus on Pedrosa to cut back Lorenzo's 25-point advantage at the top of the standings.

This represents Pedrosa's biggest opportunity yet to realise the potential Honda have invested heavily in since signing him as a 15-year-old back in 2001.

With early season stability issues with the factory RC212V seemingly resolved, he now has a bike that, on Sunday, he dared to describe as "perfect".

Pedrosa will hope it stays that way over the next few weeks, because the results of the 2009 running of the next few races do not bode well for championship leader Lorenzo.

Discounting Silverstone, where there was no race in 2009, of the four other circuits coming up before Rossi's possible return at Brno in August, Lorenzo failed to record a single win last year.

Casey Stoner's season has been anything but smooth, although a switch back to last year's suspension gave him some cause for optimism at Mugello.

The Australian has changed from the new 48mm diameter Ohlins forks back to the 42mm version, which reportedly makes a huge difference to the entire flex of the chassis.

Stoner showed signs he too may be recovering his form

Ducati team Manager and test rider Vito Guareschi told me the basic difference to the rider was front-end feel in the last 50mm of suspension travel, with the old forks offering a firmer, more aggressive response.

As Casey pointed out: "The feeling may be more aggressive, but at least there is some feeling."

Adapting the rest of the heavily updated Desmosedici GP10 to the older forks will take some work.

And managed just a couple of laps on the only machine fitted with them before wrecking it on Friday, two hours on Saturday was never going to be enough time to define a set-up for the race.

Expect more from Stoner at Silverstone.

Another technical update in the pit lane was a switch to a new, lightweight Leo Vince exhaust system for Tech 3 Yamaha pair Colin Edwards and Ben Spies.

Unfortunately, it was the anti-exhaust system in their bodies that misfired in the race, both riders suffering from dehydration in the 32ºC heat, possibly a side effect of their decision to spend the free weekend between Le Mans and Mugello back home in Texas.

Their condition was slightly ironic considering that the team is sponsored by an energy drink.

Both riders will need to rest and replenish ahead of a gruelling run of three races in as many weekends, at Silverstone, Assen and Catalunya.

Marco Simoncelli only had to travel a few miles up the road from his home in Cattolica to Mugello, but he was already showing signs of weariness in Thursday's press conference, when he nodded off as Nicky Hayden took a series of questions from host Nick Harris.

It must be tiring looking after all that hair

Marco only snapped out of his slumber when Nick addressed him directly. "What?" he slurred. "I'm sorry, I was asleep!"

He laughed when we asked him about it the next day, saying he always found it hard to follow Hayden's Kentucky drawl and had drifted off.

Simoncelli was feeling snug on his bike this weekend, too, with Honda having brought a new fairing from Japan based on the results of wind tunnel tests conducted with the Italian in Tokyo back in April.

The satellite RC212V now better accommodates his lanky frame and his lap times suggest that if it had not been for a mistake on the first lap, when he ran off track trying to pass Aleix Espargaró, he would have been involved in the exciting battle for fourth place, along with Marco Melandri, Randy de Puniet and Casey Stoner.

There was no chance of anybody nodding off on the grid, not with the noise being made by Phillipe Starck's trousers.

What's louder, the engine or the trousers?

The French designer, star of the BBC2 programme 'Design For Life', had to scream over the top of them to tell me about the new Pramac Ducati livery, which he had designed to deliver an important message about ecology.

"It's avant-garde!" he yelled, as I called time on a confusing rant that ate up virtually the last two minutes of my grid walk.

The team's press release shed a little more light on his idea, but not much, with Starck quoted as follows: "Times are changing. Times change. Very fast. Yesterday, ecology was looking backwards. Now ecology is creating the future. And, surprise, even a motorbike can do it. What will be next?"

Indeed. Well, what is next is an auction via the Riders for Health charity website for Espargaro's fairing, which was autographed by the designer on the grid.

All funds will be used to pay for solar panels to power a clinic that helps control and prevent HIV in Zambia.

Genial and eccentric Pramac Ducati Team Owner Paolo Campinotti has a reputation for being less charitable with his riders.

After reportedly giving Espargaro a kick up the proverbial a couple of weeks ago, leading to back-to-back best grid and race results in France and Italy, Mika Kallio will be next to feel the force of his designer loafers.

Kallio crashed out of 12th place on Sunday to continue a miserable start to his season, which has wielded only 12 points and sees him second-from- bottom of the championship standings.

As part of one of our pre-race features, the Finn made a plea to the British fans to cheer for him at Silverstone on the basis that we do not have a home rider and he does not have a home race.

After Sunday's result, Mika will need all the support he can get, otherwise Fiat Yamaha might not be the only team looking for a replacement rider before the summer is out.

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