Hooray! Round two has finally showed 3 weeks after the championship commenced in Qatar with a bang. Already an expected order has been established with the expected Stoner vs Lorenzo show looking to be fierce and season long with Pedrosa in with his best chance of being the cat amongst the pigeons.
Jerez looks to be equally intriguing as Qatar turned out to be. Stoner has only had one podium at any level at the Spanish track and will be out to avenge his certain podium he missed in controversial circumstances last year but has he got the arm pump that hampered him three weeks ago sorted out?
If Jerez hasn't been kind to Casey, it has been very generous to Lorenzo who has won the past two races there and after victory at Qatar must head into round two supremely confident. He has a bike as potent as any other and must start at least a warm favourite.
Pedrosa heads to Jerez on a positive note after a strong ride to second in Qatar. For once he's fit and on a bike that's fairly sorted and 2012 is looking like his best chance of contending for the MotoGP title.
Ben Spies will want to remember Qatar and learn that crashing Friday and Saturday is not productive for Sunday. Having not finished a race at Jerez in two attempts, expect a solid results for the Ben.
Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso may well become the highlight of the championship as they prove that the person you most want to beat is your teammate. They should once again battle just off the podium probably with Ben Spies.
Pressure is on Ducati to perform after Rossi publicly criticised them on Italian tv recently from a lacklustre start to their campaign. Whilst Ducati have a lot of work ahead of them to get where they need to be, truth be told, Rossi needs to concentrate on beating Hayden and the other Ducatis before anymore outbursts. Would be surprised if they can get any higher than 6th.
Stefan Bradl impressed many with a strong MotoGP debut on his satellite Honda only losing out to the more experienced and highly fancied Alvaro Bautista by a couple of tenths of a second. There should be a good fight between them and the factory Ducatis and perhaps even the satellite Ducatis of Hector Barbera and Karel Abraham in the mid-pack.
Colin Edwards 'won' the first race of the CRT bikes, beating home the much more fancied Randy de Puniet. The Texas Tornado is a wily old fox and won't be underestimated this round. He and Randy are the class of the CRT field but the likes of young axe murderers Danilo Petrucci, Michele Pirro and Yonny Hernandez should be able to give them a run for their money.
So that's my take on round two, which of course goes completely out the window when the rains come on race day again! Overall, I'm really excited for round two, especially after such a pain in the ass wait since the first round. Bring. It. On! :up:
