A simple look at the statistics should have given the game away from the beginning, really. Valentino Rossi has won three of the last three races at Estoril. And the circuit layout is known to suit the Yamaha. You'd be a brave or very foolish person to bet against him doing it again, wouldn't you. But then, Estoril is a strange place. Right on the coast, it enjoys very changeable weather, there is a lot of sand that blows onto the track and the circuit itself is narrow. It's challenging to say the least. So perhaps we should expect surprises...

The first surprise came at the start. Loris Capirossi, who had qualified a disappointing 11th, got a fantastic start to rip through the pack and come out of the first corner in the lead. Now we all knew the Ducati was fast and we never doubted Loris' ability, but that really did take some doing. Half a lap in and Rossi stuffed the Yamaha down the inside in a forceful but fair overtake. The real surprise came as Max Biaggi totally failed to brake in time and slammed into the back of Capirossi's Ducati. Biaggi went off into the kitty litter while Capirex managed to catch his machine and continue, albeit way down the field after some enforced grass tracking.

The next surprise was the lacklustre performance of Colin Edwards' Honda. Colin, one of the nicest and most popular guys on the circuit, has been struggling all season with setup problems, but after his outstanding performance at Donnington we had all hoped that the Telefonica team had finally got it sorted. Looks like we were mistaken, though Sete Gibernau, no doubt as a result of his GP experience, seems to be making a better fist of things than his team-mate.

The other big surprise, though, came in the form of Biaggi's less impetuous team-mate Makoto Tamada. The Pramac Honda rider rode a mature and controlled race to a distant but secure second place, though for a while it did look as though he may be catching Rossi. Until The Doctor turned the wick up a bit further, that is. It speaks volumes for Bridgestone Tyres that, following the disastrous disintegration of Nakano's rear tyre at Mugello a few weeks ago, they have redeveloped their tyre technology and are now making stickier tyres that last longer and seem to be at least as good as their Michelin counterparts. Impressive stuff.

A couple more surprises. Alex Barros, so nearly written off this season as a man past his best, rode certainly his best race of the season to finish a solid third ahead of sete Gibernau who simply didn't have the necessary to get past the factory rider. Great news for Barros who needs to impress if he is to keep his job but bad news for Gibernau who needed the points to have a fair stab at the title. And rather a nasty surprise for Neil Hodgson, who noticed fluid inside his fairing and then discovered that a fuel line had split, drenching the bike and him in 100 octane. With memories of Colin Edwards' Aprilia fireball last year, Hodgson made a swift decision to simply goo straight on at the next corner and get off the bike as soon as possible. Unfortunately he didn't notice the rapidly closing Jeremy McWilliams and it was only some excellent reactions on the part of both riders that averted a messy collision.

No surprise at all, sadly, to see Marco Melandri crash out in spectacular style, though his managing to do so while under no pressure at all through making a truly amateurish mistake was a little unusual. His bike and leathers were decorated especially for the occasion in Spiderman style, the webbed wonder being Melandri's hero. The intention was to auction the leathers later for charity but in all honesty there wasn't a great deal left to sell afterwards though the young Italian was, thankfully, unhurt.

What of the others? Well Shane Byrne didn't start, suffering badly from an earlier wrist injury. Neither did Nicky Hayden, who broke his collarbone riding Supermoto during the summer break. Honda, I suspect, were less than impressed by this. John Hopkins did a grand job, bringing the Suzuki home in 6th behind Carlos Checa and ahead of Capirossi who had fought his way back up from the back of the pack to finish just ahead of his team-mate Troy Bayliss. The Aussie is also having a lousy season though at least he managed not to crash this time out. Colin Edwards finished ninth with Norick Abe rounding off the top 10.

Results

1 V Rossi, Yamaha
2 M Tamada, Honda
3 A Barros, Honda
4 S Gibernau, Honda
5 C Checa, Yamaha
6 J Hopkins, Suzuki
7 L Capirossi, Ducati
8 T Bayliss, Ducati
9 C Edwards, Honda
10 N Abe, Yamaha

Championship Standing after 8 rounds

209 V Rossi
180 S Gibernau
158 M Biaggi
111 C Edwards
102 A Barros
93 C Checa
89 M Tamada
84 L Capirossi
83 N Hayden
64 M Melandri