Perdosa ran well at his home track but came up short to Stoner and Rossi

To do a fast lap of Catalunya you must have a motorcycle that works well in all departments. The track has a long straight, long corners, fast corners, slow corners and a good helping of elevation changes that find out any weakness.

Which means that the current crop of MotoGP bikes are pretty good: a Ducati, a Yamaha and a Honda were separated by just over a third of a second at the flag with a Suzuki and a Kawasaki next best. The Catalunya race was that close. The best three riders of the season, Stoner, Rossi and Pedrosa, battled it out over race distance with hardly a mistake from any of them. Certainly not from winner Casey Stoner, who for the third time this year withstood race-long pressure from Rossi without cracking.

Sure the Ducati was fast again, but Rossi was able to draft him down the front straight and pass on the brakes. Where the Doctor and fellow Michelin man Pedrosa lost out was in the slow lefthanders. Dani was sliding in them right from the start of the race -- he said he could feel the problem on the warm-up lap, and Rossi's potential to attack the faultless Stoner late in the race was also limited. Which, of course, didn't stop him from trying. Rossi's first attack on Stoner was as near the knuckle as it gets, a later pass on the inside at the final, frighteningly fast downhill righthander should have been impossible.

Watching the Doctor riding at his limit trying to force Stoner into a mistake was one of the highlights of the year so far. The added bonus was a persistent Pedrosa at his home track, losing touch with the front two for a period in the middle of the race then coming right back at them towards the finish. Dani was using a new chassis, which Nicky Hayden will test tomorrow Dani said he really didn't think it made much difference.

John Hopkins rode to another good result but admitted that he now feels disappointed when he doesn't get on the rostrum. Just like in Mugello, he gave Rossi a very hard time in the opening few laps.

But just as in qualifying, hero of the day award has to go to Randy de Puniet who came home fifth, his best ever result in MotoGP, with a damaged right shoulder, balloon sized left knee and sundry cracked digits. He then gave a double-entendre littered interview to the BBC - you try saying ?swelling' with a French accent while wearing just your underpants without smirking. The Beeb's delightful anchor Suzi Perry was incapable of speech when they came back to her.

We've now raced at Rossi's two favorite circuits, two places where the Ducati was expected to win. Stoner has come away with a win and a fourth place, Rossi with a win and a second place; which gives Vale that round on points. It has become more and more obvious that Stoner is stringing together a very special season. I asked him if he'd made one serious mistake this year. It took him a
while to think before he mentioned the first corner at Le Mans could have been done better...

Nicky Hayden has said it, Ducati team manager Livio Suppo keeps saying it -- stop talking about the bike and start talking about how well the man riding it is doing his job. They have a point. Casey didn't think this was his best win of the year, thus contradicting the opinion of the rest of the paddock. He thought his runaway in Turkey was better. That's the sort of thing Mick Doohan used to say, he always enjoyed his crushing victories more than the close-fought battles.

Casey did mention that he was ?disappointed' by Valentino's first pass on him. Vale cheerfully agreed that it was indeed an on-the-limit move and offered Casey a deal: he wouldn't do it again if Stoner stopped passing him on the straight.

Next the twisty tracks, four of them - Donington, Assen, Sachsenring and Laguna, where Casey will have to work even harder to keep Rossi behind him.