Well, how do you top that for a day of racing? Here I was thinking that the efforts of riders were likely to be subdued after the tribute to Simoncelli and with the continuing unpredictable weather conditions. How wrong I was.

The conditions allowed rider’s to showcase their talents in a variety of conditions and some monumental battles took place.

125 race……Vinales' battle for the win over Terol and Faubel was great to watch. It was a shame that Zarco dropped his bike in the early stages although there was no way that he was going to win the title with Terol in such good form.

Equally surprising was seeing Paris Hilton on the podium with her legs crossed.

Then we had the Moto2 race……..what a great result for the Gresini team and Pirro after Takahashi’s crash. Excellent rides by Kallio, Aegerter and Hernandez.

However, the best racing shown on TV was between those involved in the second pack.

West had been on the grass on lap 1 on two occasions and lost a lot of ground. However, he plugged away and with seven laps remaining, he was snapping at the heels of the second pack including Noyes who was having a great ride, Di Meglio and Iannone who all became embroiled in a monumental tussle.

After running off-track, Hernandez joined this pack and some of the closest racing you could wish for ensued. West started the last lap in 8th spot but by the last corner, was up to 4th and held the position to the finish line.

MotoGP started with a bang, in fact several bangs as Dovisioso moved slightly to the right at the approach to left turn #1 as Bautista appears to have started tipping the Zook to the left to negotiate the turn as a result of which contact was made and down went Bautista taking out Rossi, Hayden and De Puniet.

Stoner was getting away and put in a copybook performance but the best racing as such involved Spies, Dovisioso and Padrosa. This was the most determined ride I have seen by Dovisioso and Spies’ ride was reminiscent of his Superbike performances.

I felt that Spies deserved the win after that effort but after looking as though he was set to win to the applause of the crowd, Stoner must have pressed the nitro button and won by nowt narrow of margins………….Unbelievable and stunned everyone!

A couple of performances requiring special mention in my opinion were those of Hayes in his maiden race on a GP bike and Crutchlow.

In summary, a fitting tribute Simoncelli, to a popular win for the Gresini Team in Moto2, the end of the 125cc and 2 stroke racing era in GP, the end of Capirossi’s GP riding career and to to the end of the 2011 season. Life moves on.