In talking about Yamaha's speed deficit to Ducati, it is, however, important to realise that the Japanese company has increased its top speed on Losail's main straight by nearly 10mph compared to 2007 – a tremendous technical achievement by any yardstick.
Colin Edwards was the fastest Yamaha rider at Qatar last year, at a wheezy 189.964mph (305.9kph).
Valentino Rossi managed 188.59mph (303.7mph).
In contrast,
Casey Stoner breezed to victory with a rip at 201.959mph (324.7kph) on his Marlboro Ducati.
This year,
Jorge Lorenzo has so far managed 199.341mph (321.0kph) on the fastest Fiat Yamaha, with a pneumatic-valve engine. But even the Yamahas with the older spring-valve motors are going a lot quicker,
James Toseland hitting 312.3kph (193.938mph) last night.
Frustratingly for Yamaha, Ducati have coaxed still more top end from their bike:
Marco Melandri is the fastest red one so far at 203.625mph (327.9kph).
"We're happy with the speed of the bike," Rossi's crew chief Jerry Burgess said as he walked up pit lane tonight before preparing the Yamaha for qualifying.
"We have good speed from the beginning of the straight and we can hold other teams up and through to fifth gear. Ducati just have an extra bit in sixth."
It's going to be fascinating in qualifying in just four hours from now to see if Rossi and
Bridgestone can reduce their current one-second gap to Stoner.
Saturday Mid-day Musings: Has Valentino Jumped Too Soon?
People are trickling into the Losail circuit out here in the empty Qatar desert at mid-day. Why would they come any sooner - the 250cc bikes only finished their last practice at around 1am today under the bizarre but necessary new time regime imposed here at
MotoGP's first night race.
So there's hardly anyone to talk to, which makes it a great time for musing.
And I couldn't help wondering: has Valentino Rossi jumped too soon from Michelin to Bridgestone rubber? If you judge by the first day of practice on the 3.34-mile track, the move hasn't helped his prospects at all.
