Photographs courtesy of Dorna - click to enlarge

Just a week after the shenanigans of Jerez and the aftershock is still being felt. Opinions are divided between those who think Rossi's last lap pass was perfectly legitimate and those who believe he deserves censure for an out of control move. It was always going to be a bit controversial and everyone knew there's be repercussions. And it seemed likely that the Portuguese round, coming so soon, would be the place to clear the air.

Practice and qualifying saw Gibernau in fine form and looking to reinforce his injured strutting with a dominant performance on the circuit. A nasty highside saw him land hard on his already injured shoulder though, perhaps knocking the edge off his preparations for the big day. Valentino Rossi, on the other hand, was locked in a struggle for third with Carlos Checa. The Ducati and Yamaha riders traded places throughout qualifying with the Spaniard finally coming out on top and relegating Rossi to the second row. Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi made up the rest of the second row, with Colin Edwards ahead of Max Biaggi and Nicky Hayden behind them. Troy Bayliss had a spectacular highside in the same section of track, ending up concussed but still managing to qualify. Makoto Tamada ruled himself out of contention with a broken scaphoid after another highside while Kawasaki's Alex Hoffman managed to eliminate himself from proceedings highsiding on a demonstration ride at around 20mph, also breaking his scaphoid.

But at the front of the grid, fastest in practice, in qualifying and even in the warm up, was Honda mounted Alex Barros. One of the nicest guys in racing, in what for a Brazilian almost counts as a home race, took over a second off Rossi's previous best lap to take a solid pole position.

Race day dawned wet though the cloud lifted and things improved enough for the race to be declared dry. The track still had a number of damp patches and the clouds were looming sufficiently to warrant the pit crews having the wet bikes out and warmed up ready to roll from the beginning.

Hold on. Wet bikes? New 'flag to flag' rules mean that, in the event of rain during a dry race, white flags will be shown around the circuit. From then, the riders are free to come into the pits whenever they like to take a fresh bike equipped with appropriate rubber. This keeps the race going and avoids a long break (which mucks up TV scheduling as well as being boring for the spectators at the circuit) between legs. It also means that a skilled and careful rider may manage to get far enough ahead on slicks to make staying out worthwhile. Popular wisdom says that the changeover would cost roughly one minute. That's an age if you've only got half a dozen laps to go and the change in tyres only gives you a 5-6 second a lap advantage...

Anyhow. Everyone on the grid (except Shakey Byrne whose mechanical woes have followed him across the Iberian Peninsula forcing him to start from the pitlane) ready to go and the lights go out. sete Gibernau made an excellent start as did Alex Barros. Rossi sliced through from the second row while Checa rapidly failed to take advantage of his position and was gobbled up by the following pack. But the real surprise was Max Biaggi, suddenly showing some of his old form and slashing up from his lowly eighth place start to second by the first corner. Marco Melandri, too, took off well.

Barros set off after Gibernau, forcing his way past Biaggi in a gentlemanly (of course) but emphatic manner on lap two. And that may well have been it. The leading pair demonstrated that, today at least, they were in a class of two, opening a huge gulf between themselves and the pursuing Rossi/Biaggi battle. For sure the two Italians slowed each other down for a bit until Rossi made the break on lap five, but even when The Doctor had clear air in front of him there was nothing he could do to close the gap. Indeed, the distance from Rossi to Gibernau seemed to increase slightly every lap, and it looked as though this time there really was nothing left up the Yamaha rider's sleeve in terms of hidden reserves. Biaggi was continually threatening and was never more than a few tenths of a second behind.

Slightly further back and an almighty battle was going on between Yamaha mounted Colin Edwards and Honda's Marco Melandri. Both riders were effectively on the other's old ride and both had something to prove. Edwards seems far more at home on the Yamaha which suits his style while Melandri has seemingly been cured of his propensity to throw motorcycles at the scenery and is riding like a grown-up in his first Honda season. Close behind and waiting to pick up the pieces was Suzuki's John Hopkins, riding well and apparently fully recovered from the flu which knocked him sideways last week.

Now Estoril is a tight and twisty circuit which has a lot of elevation changes. Hills, if you prefer. And when you've got hills you can have changing weather. Estoril is no exception. The pits and the ferociously fast main straight were dry while the back of the circuit was being rained on. Not much, mind, so it stayed difficult to see which parts of the track were dry and which weren't.

Of course one of the best ways to see where a track is slippery is to follow someone who finds out for sure. Alex Barros knew this already, I'm sure, but his knowledge was no doubt reinforced by seeing Sete Gibernau slide off and out of the race on lap sixteen. Gibernau did his best to restart but the Honda wouldn't play ball and the Spaniard stomped off in disgust leaving Barros a full eight seconds clear at the front.

A little further back, Rossi had a titanic slide which he caught with a combination of luck and brilliant riding. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that someone was sacrificing chickens somewhere, because from where I was sitting he should have been in the gravel and no mistake. The Doctor? The Wizard more like. Biaggi too saw sense and rolled off a bit.

Colin Edwards had got the better of Marco Melandri and was riding to a solid fourth place when he too slid off. The Texan was able to restart in short order and got back onto the track in sixth having lost just two places. Troy Bayliss, battered and bruised as he was, took another trip to the gravel beds. This visit being rather more gentle, the Australian was able to rejoin as well, albeit at the back of the field after having fought his way up to seventh. Troy may not be having the best of luck right now but nobody can doubt his commitment or courage, and it would be a foolish person indeed who'd write him off. John Hopkins pushed just a little too hard on a corner that turned out to be wetter than it looked and crashed out unhurt but, in his own words, "gutted."

Back to the front of the field, then, and after a few minor moments Barros kept it all together, took advantage of the huge margin that his scorching pace had opened up at the beginning of the race and almost coasted across the line nearly three seconds ahead of Rossi with Biaggi a further four seconds adrift having decided that third place was better than an early bath. Marco Melandri rode a mature race in conditions where, for once, nobody would have criticised him for falling off to finish fourth with Carlos Checa in fifth and Edwards a rather cross but still solid sixth. Nicky Hayden brought his Repsol Honda home seventh, with Shinya Nakano on the only Kawasaki close behind. Ninth place went to Loris Capirossi while Reuben Xaus made a welcome return to the top ten. Worthy of note, too, is Briton James Ellison who scored the first point ever for the Blata WCM team, finishing fifteenth. Shakey Byrne wasn't able to shed his mechanical problems and finished sixteenth, gaining no points but plenty of valuable data for the team. It'll come, we're sure.

A two week break now before the next round. For the first time MotoGP is going to China. Should be interesting. Gibernau, surely Rossi's biggest real threat, is now languishing in fifth place overall, a yawning twenty five points shy of Rossi in the lead. Now the fat lady hasn't even left her hotel to come to the theatre yet, but is there anyone out there prepared to bet on Gibernau beating Rossi to the title?

Thought not.

Results

1 A Barros, Honda
2 V Rossi, Yamaha
3 M Biaggi, Honda
4 M Melandri, Honda
5 C Checa, Ducati
6 C Edwards, Honda
7 N Hayden, Honda
8 S Nakano, Kawasaki
9 L Capirossi, Ducati
10 R Xaus, Yamaha

Championship Standing after 1 round

45 V Rossi
38 A Barros
29 M Melandri
25 M Biaggi
20 S Gibernau
19 S Nakano
17 C Checa
17 C Edwards
15 T Bayliss
10 L Capirossi