Moody Blues: Welkom.

In the first of his exclusive columns for Crash.net, renowned Eurosport MotoGP commentator Toby Moody lets us in on a few 'behind the scenes' stories from the opening round of the 2004 season in South Africa....

Dani Pedrosa's 250cc win was stunning, particularly after having just done less than 1500km on a 250 machine. He thought he'd be able to run with Manuel Poggiali but, upon running with him in the race, decided he could go faster than the reigning world champion. For little Dani to win the race in a new team with a brand new bike and a brand new chief engineer - in the shape of former Nieto/Elias Ohlins technician and Dieter Stappert Aprilia Germany mechanic Mike Leitner - was a stunning result for the Spaniard and a perfect build-up before the MotoGP race that only Valentino Rossi could have topped.

Proton may have not had the limelight over the Welkom weekend, but the Banbury-based team was over the moon to get the bike to the finish. Having previously not run more than five laps at a time, the 2004 Proton reeled off 28 laps without any silly little problems at all, compounding the Formula One ethos, culture and work ethic that is now being brought into MotoGP. The team may be down on power after engine simulation figures haven't added up, but they hope to rectify that with some answers needing to be found soon.

The d'Antin team of Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus effectively ran unsponsored all weekend, apart from some small Repsol and Qatar GP stickers. The main sponsor's colours were on the bike on Thursday afternoon for scrutineering, with assurances that confirmation would arrive before Friday morning's free practice, but that failed to happen, with the Sunday then being the day for confirmation. That, too, went by - with Jerez in two weeks' time being the new date. Next time you reach for your credit card, look for the logo with the blue, white and beige coloured stripes.... Luis d'Antin is still looking in his wallet for a sponsor!

Doubt remains whether MotoGP will return to South Africa. The regular promoter's boss was replaced for the weekend, whilst an investigation to the funding of the circuit has been launched in the Free State. Word has it that one person who was to be quizzed, fainted just before he took the stand.

Bernie Ecclestone said that Bahrain will be the only F1 venue in the Middle East, which leaves Dubai looking towards MotoGP for a major motorsport championship. Dubai, which has also publicly denied pursuing an F1 goal, may well be the replacement GP for South Africa in 2004.

There was one rumour in the press office that said Laguna Seca will return to the schedule in 2005 - but for MotoGP bikes only. The speculation insisted that Carlos Checa had tested a 'bike' there when recently visiting California. Many put the rumours down to a late April Fool, as Laguna would need a total re-vamp before any FIM safety officer went near the place.

Carlo Fiorani, the sporting manager of Honda Europe, staked his April salary on all six Honda riders taking the new swing arm set-up of the V5 for the Welkom race. Alas, only Colin Edwards spoilt the show by taking the 'older' 2003 rear-end.

Shinya Nakano's #56 came from the Japanese cartoon Manga, who won the Suzuka 4Hr race - something that Shinya himself went on to do. The cartoon character then went on to win the world championship. "I have to do the same!" says Shinya.

German TV station RTL sent 35 people to Welkom for its 80-minute TV show. That included two people just for radio communication. Expect yet more people in Europe to put many MotoGP teams staff numbers to shame.

Michelin has asked its MotoGP teams to make a choice before their trucks leave Clermont Ferrand as to which tyres they want to use over a GP weekend.

Many may well rue the fact that the first Grand Prix of the year did not take place at Suzuka, even after last year's series of accidents. The circuit now has a chicane added after the hairpin towards the Spoon Curve to slow things down where Marco Melandri and Alex Barros had their offs in 2003. Makoto Tamada may well be annoyed he didn't get a chance to race there in the wet. That's right, on 4 April 2004 at Suzuka it rained like hell!

The president of HRC - Mr Kanazawa - has said that there is still ten per cent development left with the Honda RC 211V. "Not maybe in sheer power, but in lap time," he said.

Honda aims to sell a total of 19million units in 2004 in order to raise their $3,500million net profit of 2003. That includes six million bike units and 2.5 million cars. The figure overshadows the 40,000 bikes that Ducati sell in a year.

The original quotes are already coming forth from Colin Edwards in 2004. "This ain't my first rodeo..." he said in response to how he is going to battle the others at the sharp end this year.

Sete Gibernau feels under less pressure this season that last. That was his stance going into the Welkom GP weekend. "At the end of 2002, I said to Telefonica that they had to believe in me at least for one more year, otherwise they could sack me at the end of 2003 if they felt I'd not done enough," the Spaniard said.

Coming second to Valentino Rossi was certainly enough for the Spanish telecom giant to sign him for two further years at Gresini. "So, coming into this season, I'm not riding for the sake of my career, I'm riding with more stability in the long run."

In reply to the over emotional tags he has picked up in the paddock, the Spaniard said "I'm a very impulsive person and have been so all my life. When something is bad I can be down, but when something is good it brings me up, such as it did at Le Mans, where I won. I'd prefer to have that kind of emotion than not at all."

After the race, Sete said that "I have to look at this weekend compared with last year. Here and now, after round one twelve months ago, I had zero points - and now I have 16".

Nicky Hayden had a hole in his leg in Welkom, but not from falling off in South Africa. Dirt tracking at home over Easter he took a tumble. Just don't let his bosses know...

Shane Byrne has immediately been taken to heart by the Italian corner of the press office in MotoGP. Upon being introduced at the five-man Thursday press conference, the Italians burst out in applause for the BSB champion.

Yamaha people say that their new M1 four-pot engine is 'not the light switch it was'. Tech-3 ran Magnetti Marelli electronics on their bikes for Norick Abe and Marco Melandri in Welkom to aid development.

A happy Jerry Burgess said after the race that Max Biaggi had probably ridden the best race for a very very long time. "But, most of all, I'm now looking forward for Honda to get all of their ammunition brought to the tracks early in the season so we can see what they've got," he said. The Australian's only worry with the current M1 Yamaha was that it did not have enough top speed, but that sheer top end may not be needed for Jerez and Le Mans. Questioned on why the next Yamaha was 36 seconds behind, he said, "they've all got access to our data".

"Valentino always works well when under pressure," Burgess continued, "He was presented with the chance to win Honda's 500th GP at Suzuka in 2001 and he did it. The last 500cc race and the championship were his, then the first ever MotoGP race and his last race for Honda all fell to him. Today, on a Yamaha for the first time, he has shown again he can revel under that pressure."

Jeremy McWilliams' Aprilia has carbon fibre fork tubes, saving 600g for 2004. The trouble with the handling is that the team still have to put ballast inside the seat section to try and reign in chatter.

Dorna have restricted access to the press office for all 125 and 250cc press officers. In a public note, it has now been decided that these team representatives cannot have a desk for the weekend, even though they can still come and go as they please. The 125 and 250 post qualifying press conferences are now a lesser affair too, with only the pole men attending the MotoGP front row conference at 5pm on Saturday.

Real time data is to appear on Moto GP bikes this year. Carlos Checa had gear data on screen in South Africa, whilst Alex Hofmann will have rpm readings and Troy Bayliss will have speed readings at Jerez.