Toni Elias won a fantastic race - on a satellite Gresini Honda, wearing Michelins. Rossi was second, by 0.002 seconds, with
Kenny Roberts Junior in third place on a Team KR Honda-Michelin package. Best Bridgestone: Hopkins, in sixth. Best Ducati: Alex Hofmann on the Pramac d'Antin satellite bike.
The message from all this? In racing revolutions can happen faster than Stoner can punt the Desmosedici GP7 through a speed trap. So let's not panic. Michelin have virtually owned
MotoGP and its 500cc predecessor class for three decades, and they're fighting back from their present woes. Equally, the Japanese factories will not want to be humiliated by an upstart little Euro-maker like Ducati.
John Hopkins could be a challenger in 2008 on his new Kawasaki, and at Suzuki Hopkins' absence could spark more fire from
Chris Vermeulen. Rossi, on a revived Yamaha-Michelin package, may have one more championship in him. The under-rated
Nicky Hayden has enough inner anger to win more titles, and when
Marco Melandri gets his factory MotoGP ride at Marlboro Ducati, it will release the full potential of the former 250cc world champion.
Sometimes the most radical thing to do is to have the courage to wait, and see how things turn out. That's the path that Dorna seems to be adopting for 2008.
Friday pm - Valentino Tells Nearly All - at a Distance
Valentino Rossi has re-instated his informal post-practice, post-race press conferences - but only in English, and now at a distance from reporters. At Estoril today Rossi sat at a table a metre away from the media, and responded to questions using a microphone.
