By Azi Farni BBC pit-lane reporter

Stoner made the best possible start to the new season

There were few surprises when pre-season favourite and pole-sitter Casey Stoner took the chequered flag in Qatar on his Repsol Honda debut last Sunday.

The race under the lights at Losail was not all about the Australian though - it served up several exciting battles that bode well for the rest of the campaign.

Stoner fought it out with team-mate Dani Pedrosa and reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo at the front.

Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli gave a taste of what we can expect from them this season, with some aggressive riding behind the leading trio.

Behind them, Ben Spies and Valentino Rossi might have been disappointed with finishing sixth and seventh respectively but we still witnessed a great fight between the Doctor and the rider who replaced him at Yamaha.

Rossi had been expecting to fight in the second group but with his shoulder still not fully healed after surgery it was difficult for him to push as hard as he would have liked.

There was no sign of a problem through pre-season but Pedrosa was clearly troubled when attempting race distance on Sunday

Ten days between Qatar and Jerez, which starts on 1 April, might not be much of a gap for healing but with a further four weeks between Jerez and Estoril, following the postponement of the Japan GP, Rossi can hopefully regain a bit of strength in that time.

Meanwhile, Lorenzo's pre-season form seemed to suggest he would also have trouble contending with the Repsol Hondas, with the Spaniard expecting to only be fighting for the final podium place in Qatar. But he eventually took second in a race he proclaimed was "maybe the best of my life" .

The Yamaha Factory Racing rider's convincing display on a track better suited to the Honda RC212Vs, shows that 2011 is far from being 'The Honda Show'.

With the next round at Jerez, the scene of Lorenzo's victorious battle with Pedrosa for home glory last year, the world champion will certainly be fighting for a win this time round, in front of an expected 120,000-strong crowd.

Pedrosa, meanwhile, will want revenge for last year and may have been feeling confident after a winter campaign that could not have gone much better. His elation in testing was not only due to the strength of the bike but the fact he was in good shape himself, this being the first time in years that he had not started the season with technical problems or an injury.

There was no hiding his shock and disappointment, then, following his performance in Qatar, a race he called "one of toughest of my life" . From fighting for the win, he tailed off at the midway point to finish third, complaining of losing strength in the arm he had surgery on following a shoulder injury suffered at the Japan GP in 2010.

There was no sign of a problem through pre-season but Pedrosa was clearly troubled when attempting race distance on Sunday. It now remains to be seen how much this could hamper his challenge.

Incidentally, for those wondering about the team championship, MotoGP's governing body, the FIM, has decided that only the best and worst of Repsol Honda's three riders will score points . So from Qatar, the team collected 25 points for Stoner's win and 13 for Dovizioso's fourth-place finish.

Incredibly, Bautista's camp are talking of a return at Estoril in May

The other big news from the first week of the 2011 season was the injury suffered by Rizla Suzuki rider Alvaro Bautista.

The starting grid on Sunday was the first one in 37 years that did not feature a Suzuki after Bautista's highside crasgh in free practice left him needing surgery in Doha for a broken left femur .

John Hopkins, who had been confirmed as Suzuki's replacement should there be a need for one, was already back home in California after doing some promotional work for the team and did not have enough time to make it back for qualifying.

So Suzuki, desperate to have a rider on the starting grid come Sunday, approached several Moto2 competitors in an attempt to fill the void.

Unfortunately for the Suzuki management, it was too late in the day and too early in the season for any teams to risk releasing their riders .

Hopkins has since been entered as the Suzuki rider for the next round in Jerez, although his British Superbike commitments mean he is unable to ride in Estoril or Le Mans should Suzuki still be looking to use him.

Incredibly, Bautista's camp are talking of a return at Estoril in May. The Spaniard has now started physiotherapy following successful surgery in Madrid after initial post-op complications.

Just to give you an idea of how bad an injury it is, the femur is the thickest and strongest bone in the body and the recovery process - for a normal person - can take several months, even up to a year.

MotoGP riders are not normal people however! The speed at which they can come back from injury is testament to just how much physical training is required at the top level of motorsport.

All the riders will want to be in the best as possible come Jerez next weekend, one of the most popular races on the calendar for riders and fans. Along with Mugello, it probably has the most colourful paddock and the most passionate fans and it certainly inspires some spectacular, daring racing.

I, for one, cant wait!

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