Rossi’s lead cut down to just 18 points

“Every time that I write one of these columns, I try to come to a definite conclusion. And every time that I do, it seems, I’m immediately proved completely wrong! After Misano, a month ago – a meeting which Valentino Rossi utterly dominated, from start to finish – I thought that ‘The Doctor’ had comfortably wrapped up 2009’s Moto GP World Championship. And, one race on, his title lead has been cut down to just 18 points…

Rossi was furious about his fourth-place finish at Estoril on Sunday, I can tell you that. One of the many things which makes him such a great character is the fact that he usually makes himself so available to TV interviewers like me. But, this time, he stormed straight off his bike into his team’s garage without stopping, slamming the door behind him. And I think that was partially a display of anger against his team, because they’d spent three days together trying to make the Yamaha work to his liking on this circuit – making big set-up changes as late as Sunday morning – and never once made it happen. His team-mate, meanwhile – and only World Championship challenger – Jorge Lorenzo simply rode off into the distance and won as he pleased.

Rossi’s career has been blessed with good fortune throughout its course, though, and such was the case again on Sunday. Because here Valentino produced a flat, out-of-character performance, got uncharacteristically angry about it, afterwards…and an awful lot of people didn’t notice! Because the ‘story’ of this year’s Portugese Moto GP was ultimately all about Casey Stoner’s return to form.

Sometimes, if you’re fortunate enough, like me, to be a TV interviewer working at track-side, you can tell an awful lot about a rider’s mental state and physical health just by looking in his eyes on Friday morning. And, right upon his first arrival at Estoril, I was convinced – and delighted to see! – that Ducati’s Casey Stoner, absent for a full couple of months, was now fully restored to health.

More importantly, the stop-watch also told us that all his old speed had been fully repaired, too; right from Friday’s first practice and qualifying sessions. Ducati can be rightly pleased with a number of their managerial decisions as a result, because, whilst it was undoubtedly a controversial judgment call at the time, they’ve ultimately been shown to be absolutely correct in what they chose to do. And whilst Casey was understandably tired at the end of Sunday’s race, he looked and sounded nothing like the physically struggling man he was earlier this season. Plus, had one of his foot-rests not fallen off in the Moto GP’s early laps, he might well have pushed Lorenzo hard to the flag.

What’s more, Casey’s impressive performance – arguably one of the greatest ‘comeback’ rides in the history of the sport – makes him a hot favourite for his home Grand Prix, at Australia, in a fortnight’s time. To say that his return to front-running will put thousands extra on the gate at Phillip Island is just about the understatement of the season!

There have been some ‘tweaks’ made to the Ducati bike, too – most specifically an aerodynamic ‘re-think’ of the machine’s rear end – and if both it and Stoner really ‘click’ at his home race, the rest of the field may not seem him for dust. Which would all bode very nicely indeed for another tilt for the Moto GP title in 2010.

That’s a season that it’s still possible might begin with Jorge Lorenzo wearing the grid’s ‘Number 1’ plate. Because he’s now 18 only points behind Valentino Rossi, and I think that it’s entirely possible that the Moto GP championship chase will now go all the way down until the final Grand Prix of the season. As I’ve often said, it’s much easier to be the hunter than the hunted, and Jorge now has absolutely nothing to lose in just riding every lap absolutely flat-out between now and the end of the season. The pressure is now all on his more experienced – and more famous! – Yamaha team-mate, Valentino Rossi.

Abiding memories of this weekend at Estoril, then, will be of Rossi’s limp performance, Stoner’s amazing comeback…and Lorenzo winning as he pleased, whilst apparently dressed as an astronaut, complete with NASA-retro crash-helmet. In fact, there was a 1960s feel to the whole weekend, I felt. Because this season’s Moto GP championship story continues to be so tense, unpredictable and exciting that it feels to me as if it might well have been directed by Alfred Hitchcock…”