This week: Round 3 in Jerez

Round three in Jerez starts up this week and the championship looks set to provide another unpredictable twist. Going in, rookie Marc Marquez and current champ Jorge Lorenzo are on equal points in the lead with a win and a third apiece. Marquez is continuing to be humble and Lorenzo has no bragging to share; all the riders know that the championship this year is up for grabs and that the top-heavy distribution of talent will make it difficult for any one rider to walk away with the title. It’s possible it’ll be down to the wire in Valencia at the end of the season – the idea of the top four settling their positions based on their final race results is really attractive.

And Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi have a great history at Jerez as well, and must be at this point feeling the psychological pressure crowding their thoughts despite what they’re saying to the press. Pedrosa was given a raw bit of negative news when Kevin Schwantz spoke his mind to the press, saying essentially that if Pedrosa hasn’t gotten his title by now it’s not going to happen; Dani’s manager Alberto Puig got worked into a lather and released a scathing response. The upshot though is that this season is not a walk in the park for Pedrosa when the end of last season made it look like he’d be invincible. Maybe he’ll hang in there and reassert dominance again at the later tracks, but he’ll have three aliens to deal with this time and not just one. Rossi on the other hand is arguably in the best position as far as pressure; the doubts raised about everything in his career as a result of sitting on a Ducati for two years mean that any hints of promise can be accepted with cheerful humility. We all know it would turn the MotoGP world upside down if he continues to pull off miracles, but Texas was a bucket of cold water on any thoughts he’d come back and triumph. It’s no secret that he and COTA were not made for each other, nor was it a surprise that Marquez ended up being untouchable with his magic affinity for the American roller coaster ride.

Now Jerez, that’s another story altogether. Lorenzo has a great record of victories there once he found his footing including a staggering 19 second win in 2011 (of course, Casey Stoner had been in second place in a rainy race when Rossi passed him at the end of the straight into turn one, then lost the front end, carrying Stoner with him… and as Lorenzo swept from fourth into second and disappeared in the distance, the entire team of marshals rallied around Rossi to get him back on track, virtually ignoring Stoner, quite a scene).

Rossi has many wins there but some odd history as well, landing a 14^th place in 2006 after a turn one incident at the start left him the only bike down and over 30 seconds behind the pack. And Pedrosa has been consistently on the rostrum for seemingly forever. It’s supposed to be a Yamaha track, without long straights for the Hondas to dominate and with more flowing corners where the more stable Yamahas prevail. Both Rossi and Lorenzo will feel relief and renewed purpose back in Spain; Lorenzo will be home and ready to reassert his prowess to reinforce his position in the championship, and there’s no stopping the 20-year old rookie Marquez who surely must have that magical rising tide of confidence in the back of his mind.

Next stop, first practice session in Jerez, Spain this Friday, where weather looks to be in the 20+C range and except for that rain cloud over Friday’s FP1 and FP2 sessions mostly sunny and dry and very, very fast.