Bridgestone has won there for the last three years, the two most recent occasions with Ducati. Makoto Tamada gave them their first victory on the 4.8km track with a Camel Honda in 2004, and
Loris Capirossi followed this with two successive wins in on Ducati in 2005 and 2006.
Motegi also puts more pressure on the front tyre than the rear, which plays to one of the strengths that Bridgestone has displayed this season. It also has a 762-metre main straight, which will allow Stoner to use his power advantage from the desmo V4.
If Stoner can maintain his 76-point advantage over
Valentino Rossi in Japan, he would take the title as only three rounds - worth a total of 75 points to the winner - would then remain. The world was relieved to see a jubilant Rossi back on form in Portugal, but will be equally happy to see Stoner and Ducati clinch one of the greatest underdog performances in grand prix history.
Sunday pm - Vermeulen Demolishes 'Point-and-Squirt' Electronics Myth
As you watched the action in today's Portuguese
MotoGP, you might well have assumed that electronic aids are turning motorcycle racing into a simple twist-and-go operation for riders. Launch control and traction control are taking the skill and the spectacle away from the sport, it is increasingly claimed.
But what's it like for a rider lining up on the grid on a 220bhp
MotoGP missile? I asked Rizla Suzuki's
Chris Vermeulen - a strong critic of electronic assistance - what his job is now like. And he shattered one big myth about traction control.
"It isn't like you can just give it a big handful of throttle when you come out of a corner," he said. "If I do that my bike will highside instantly. Traction control merely helps a rider. If the bike starts to spin it will help it to grip again."
The 25-year-old Australian has a button on his bike that offers five settings for traction control from zero to maximum. "It gives me the option to change it during a practice session without having to come into the pits, or during the race as the tyre degrades," he explained.
Even starting with launch control is not the simple point-and-squirt affair that some critics of electronics claim. "It controls rpm in the first couple of gears so that the bike doesn't wheelie or spin," Vermeulen said. "But the start time is the same whether I use it or not. I've forgotten to use it at a couple of GPs and I've still got good starts. At Misano I started from the third row and I was fourth coming out of turn one."
But Vermeulen, currently fourth in the championship table, still believes that riders are having less input now that electronic aids have arrived. And being a good ole boy from a rough 'n' tough Australian dirt-tracking background, he'd prefer to go back to 1,000cc bikes with 250 unrestricted horsepower available at the right wrist.
But doesn't electronic equipment aid rider safety? "Racing wouldn't be less safe without it," he insists. "We are supposed to be the 19 best riders in the world. A lot of these guys came from 200-horsepower 500s where the power was like a light switch, but they rarely high-sided because they understood their bikes."
