Vincent's finger on Pulse as entry announced.

The provisional MotoGP entry lists as published by the FIM contain more than their fair share of unexplained surprises.

Although the arrival of British Superbike star Chris Walker and teenage protege Leon Haslam into the GP500 class has been well covered, relatively little is known about the appearance of Jay Vincent's name next to a Pulse Racing entry for the same category.

Vincent is listed to partner GP500 veteran Mark Willis at the new team, which will field bikes of its own making in 2001. Willis had been expected to line-up with either the Modenas team, or use one of its machines on lease basis, but now appears on the list as a member of the Pulse team.

Elsewhere in GP500, reigning GP250 champion Olivier Jacque partners regular team-mate Shinya Nakano on a pair of Gauloises-backed Yamahas following their end-of-season graduation, and the DeeCee Jeans team fields a couple of newcomers in the form of Dutchman Barry Veneman and Australia's Marcus Payten. Johan Stigefelt graduates from the middle class along with Vincent, Jacque and Nakano to ride for the Sabre Sport team, while Haruchika Aoki looks set to contest the series aboard a Honda fielded by Arie Molenaar. David Tomas completes his ascent to the top with Queroseno, following a couple of late-season outings last year, and Jose Luis Cardoso duly gets his works ride with the Antena 3 team.

In GP250, the exodus of front and midfield runners is made up for by the graduation of former GP125 champ Emilio Alzamora with Gresini and the Spaniard's successor, Roberto Locatelli, with the Eurobet-backed Battaini team.

The category sports its own share of unfamiliar names, including several new Italians, but none stands out more than the arrival of MotoGP's new first lady, Katja Poensgen, who partners the returning Jeremy McWilliams at the newly-formed UMoto team. Joining the Irishman back in GP250, former Modenas rider David de Gea will line up with the Antena 3 D'Antin squad.

The defection of the Shell Advance team to GP500 has left Australian hopeful Anthony West chasing a team with which to ride, but the majority of title favourites are already firmly ensconced with the regular entrants. Marco Melandri returns with the factory Aprilia squad, where he will be partnered by another GP500 refugee, Tetsuya Harada, while Daijiro Katoh again turns out for Gresini.

With the disappearance of the all-conquering Tech 3 operation, however, the title race looks wide open, with the likes of Battaini, the Repsol-backed Sebastien Porto, and Klaus Nohles all likely to feature at the front.

GP125 boasts a 30 bike entry and, with the graduation of both the previous years' champions, could well see a new name a the top of the list this season.

Pre-season favourite will undoubtedly be Derbi's Youichi Ui, who pushed Locatelli all the way in 2000, and will again be joined by team-mates Manuel Poggiali and Pablo Nieto at the Spanish team.

In Locatelli's absence, Aprilia will look to Mirko Giansanti, now with Semprucci-Biesse, Simone Sanna and Lucio Cecchinello to take the fight to its Latin rival, but may suffer for not having an established race winner in the fold.

The Honda challenge is led, as in recent seasons, by Masao Azuma, now with the Liegois Competition outfit following the disbandment of the Benetton squad, Noboru Ueda, already showing promise with the TSR-developed machine, and Arnaud Vincent, who defects from Aprilia. Jaroslav Hules, who occasionally performed qualifying miracles with the Italjet last year before leaving in a huff, will also be Honda-mounted, following his move to Matteoni Racing.

His place, and that of the GP500-bound Leon Haslam, at Italjet has been taken by race veterans Stefano Perugini and Gigi Scalvini.

Full entry lists to follow shortly.....