Round four, at the Shanghai International circuit in China, would be yet another critical race in the championship contest, with a clear favourite yet to emerge. The Chinese track has varied types of corners and bends, but particularly significant are a couple of long straights. One of those is the one that follows the winding right at turn thirteen, blasting them into the highest speeds before the heavy-braking overtaking zone at the right-handed turn fourteen hairpin.

Before the race, practice and qualifying sessions provided some anxious moments. Several riders had crashes, and none more serious than the one that befell class rookie Lorenzo. Turn three switches back to the left after the long, right coiling turns one and two combination. Jorge was unseated dramatically there, and the impact he suffered injured his ankles. It was going to make his race a difficult one and, after three pole positions, the Fiat Yamaha rider qualified ‘only’ fourth.

There were qualifying crashes for both Nicky Hayden, on the Repsol Honda, and Kawasaki rider John Hopkins. Nicky would therefore start from a season-worst tenth place, and John was worse off in P14. But up front it was a good day for Yamaha, with Lorenzo’s team-mate Rossi in second, his best of the year to date. Leading the way was the non-works bike of Colin Edwards, taking his third Grand Prix pole, and the first for the Tech 3 team since July 2002 - when they had the one-two on 500cc Yamahas ridden by Olivier Jacque and Shin’ya Nakano, in Germany.

In amongst the Yamahas was the Marlboro Ducati mounted Stoner, with the 2007 champion on the front row for the first time this season, in third. Repsol rider Pedrosa was therefore in fifth, and next to him was Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi, another getting his best start so far for the year. James Toseland was seventh for Tech 3, then came the second Rizla Suzuki of Chris Vermeulen, and Randy de Puniet for LCR Honda.

Between Hayden and Hopkins came Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda), Marco Melandri (Ducati), and Nakano (Gresini Honda). In twelfth, Melandri was making progress with the 800cc Ducati Desmosedici GP8, getting off the sixth row for the first time and making it onto the fourth. P15 was Toní Elías (Alice Ducati), followed by Alex de Angelis (Gresini Honda), Sylvain Guintoli (Alice Ducati) and Anthony West (Kawasaki).

The race followed a wet weather warm-up session, but would get going with a slightly damp but drying track surface. It was declared a wet race, to allow for flag-to-flag rules if needed, but in fact it stayed dry throughout. Before the start, the unfortunate Lorenzo had more drama when his Yamaha stalled for the warm-up lap, but with help he got going and joined the field on the grid.

Edwards, the pole man still looking for his first GP win, stayed in front off the line, and fought off the initial attentions of Stoner, who was briefly in front through the first couple of bends. Rossi was third, then Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Hayden, Melandri, Capirossi and Toseland. Lap one shuffles saw Hayden past Lorenzo, and Melandri demoted by both Capirossi and Toseland. Out of the final, left-handed turn sixteen, Pedrosa went ahead of Rossi by the time they crossed the start-finish line.

Edwards was leading at turn one, but Stoner overtook on the inside, only to run wide and lose first position to both Edwards and Pedrosa. Fourth man Rossi was with them and clear of Lorenzo, who now led Hayden, Capirossi, Toseland, Vermeulen, Dovizioso, Melandri, Nakano, Guintoli, Elías and de Puniet. Turn six, a right-hand hairpin, saw Pedrosa pass Edwards for the lead, which left the Texan pursued by former team-mate Rossi, now past Stoner.

Rossi went to pass Edwards at turn fourteen, where outbraking works well after a slipstream down the long straight. The Italian, however, went through but was deep enough on the brakes to give the place up again. He passed at turn one though, to go second. Pedrosa had already started to stretch away in the lead while, behind Edwards and Stoner, Hayden had cleared Lorenzo and was starting to catch up. Dovizioso took seventh from Capirossi at turn eleven, a left turn following a short straight; the older man took it back on the back straight, but Andrea got him again at turn fourteen, plus Lorenzo into the bargain.

At this stage, Pedrosa and Rossi were pulling away from Edwards and the rest. Valentino used a slipstream to get past at turn fourteen and, even though he braked at bit too late at the same place soon after, he stayed first. Edwards was not so lucky; at the same time he went in late and ran off there, rejoining the circuit behind sixth placed Melandri. This left Stoner third, and the Australian was soon left in a solitary position as the first two got away from him, and the rest fell behind.

Capirossi had got past Lorenzo at turn six, with Melandri also overtaking the Portuguese GP winner, and Edwards the next man through. Perhaps Jorge’s injuries were starting to take a toll. Loris, meanwhile, slipstreamed Dovizioso but took himself too deep at T14 and went off and back on the track again. Marco’s progress now involved him in a tussle for fifth with Dovizioso, as they swapped and swapped through turns one and two. The Ducati rider got the place, and he would gain one more slot when Hayden went a bit deep into turn fourteen and gave him the gap he needed. Andrea would soon also pass Nicky.

Rossi and Pedrosa were still well out front, the Spaniard keeping left along the back straight rather than go for the slipstream to overtake. Stoner maintained third, but now fourth belonged to his team-mate Melandri, from Dovizioso, Hayden, Edwards and Lorenzo, now with Capirossi in a more lonely ninth. By this time, after having run ninth earlier on, his Suzuki partner Vermeulen had stopped in the pits with clutch problems, which proved terminal.

The race was a two-way affair, with Pedrosa apparently having enough in hand to stay with Rossi, and maybe looking to go past in the late stages. The lead was anywhere from 0.2s to 0.6s as they motored on and exchanged fastest laps. But Valentino was soon to take away his rival’s 2006 lap record, set on the 990 Honda. With five laps remaining, ‘the Doctor’ started to ease away. As it turned out, Dani was unable to reply. The gap was over three seconds with a lap to go, and a delighted Rossi secured his first win in eight races, stopping to kiss his Yamaha, and indulging in a very long victory lap.

Stoner’s third place was safe, taking him back to the podium after two races away. Fourth place had been in question though. Having dropped back from fifth, Lorenzo was eighth when his adrenalin seemed to kick in. He followed Edwards past Hayden, overtook the Yamaha rider, and squeaked inside Dovizioso at turn fourteen. Next was a move on Melandri at turn eleven, and he then found enough pace to make fourth his own. It was a brave ride under the circumstances, and perhaps the result was a welcome birthday present.

Dovizioso also looked racy as he went by Melandri across the start-finish line, although he didn’t stay in front. Instead, he found himself fighting off Hayden, who had got by Edwards when the Yamaha man went wide at T14. Nicky made it past, but then positions were reversed again and Andrea pulled away in pursuit of Melandri again. However, in the last couple of laps the 22-year-old suddenly dropped behind Hayden, Edwards and Capirossi, with Elías and Nakano also coming through.

Melandri took a useful fifth then, for the first time looking good with the Ducati, and Hayden took sixth, then Edwards. Earlier, the following slot had been Capirossi’s, and the race for the next position had been headed by Nakano and Toseland. However, Elías had come into the frame, and he passed each man in turn to take eighth. Loris and Shin’ya headed Dovizioso, with Toseland, de Puniet, Hopkins, Guintoli then de Angelis coming home after them. West had nearly fallen off at T14 earlier, and he came home last on a bad day for Kawasaki.

Valentino Rossi’s choice of Bridgestone tyres for the works Yamaha was fully rewarded for the first time, but on top of that he had not struggled for pace here as in 2007. Clearly Ducati do not have the advantage at this stage, but Rossi had still had to fight off Dani Pedrosa and the Honda. The Italian’s title hopes are on the up again. The 22-year-old Spaniard was still happy with second, as he moved into the points lead while Jorge Lorenzo raced injured.

Casey Stoner was closer to where he hoped to be, but the Australian rider made veiled comments that appeared to criticise his race tyres. He mentioned someone else’s set-up changes, and did not seem happy that his own decisions were apparently over-ruled. Other than the encouraging rides from Lorenzo, Melandri and Elías, a talking point might have been Dovizioso’s fate. Whatever affected him in the late laps, the young Honda rider lost a possible sixth place. He’d missed a possible fifth in Spain, and crashed when fourth in Portugal. With his opening fourth in Qatar, these results could have put him on fifty points, putting him into second-best rookie status, ahead of Toseland.

But there were no what-if questions for the top two on the day. Rossi’s victory meant he had taken at least one for each Grand Prix season since he arrived in 1996. And Pedrosa made it twenty podium results in MotoGP, in the early stages of his third season at this level. Who will get it right next time out?

Standings after four races: Pedrosa 81; Lorenzo 74; Rossi 72; Stoner 56; Toseland and Capirossi 33; Edwards 31; Hayden 29; Hopkins and Dovizioso 26; Melandri 23; Nakano 22.
Yamaha 90; Honda 81; Ducati 56; Suzuki 34; Kawasaki 26.

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