I’m writing to you on my way to Lesotho, Africa, where I am heading for a week of enduro riding with a group of my closest friends to celebrate my 50th birthday. The trip has been organised as a surprise by my wife Barbera and I was absolutely bowled over when we got to Heathrow airport and saw everybody there waiting for us. I’ll tell you all about the trip in my next column.

For now I want to look back at the MotoGP season because it has been a while since my last column. The truth is I haven’t been home for the last eight weekends, what with going to MotoGP races to ride the two-seat Ducati, watching my son race in Spain, testing the Italian championship bikes at Mugello and in between all that I went to Talladega to watch NASCAR with my old friend Juan Pablo Montoya, which was an awesome experience. In fact, I want to write a whole other column about that sometime over the winter.

Going back to MotoGP, we saw over the last three races of the season the very best of what Casey Stoner is able to produce – despite a freak crash in the final round at Valencia. Putting that to one side, the kid came back from his illness with a great effort at Estoril and then he just kept the momentum going. I wasn’t surprised because he has always been fast at Phillip Island and Sepang but to put two wins together in the style he did sent a clear message to his rivals about what to expect in 2010.

It was a shame that Jorge Lorenzo’s title challenge ended in the way that it did, with such a big mistake going into turn one in Australia. Initially he claimed it wasn’t his fault and accused Nicky Hayden of braking too early in front of him, but he later reversed that and I think that was fair. It was an unfortunate incident and it robbed the fans and the television spectators the opportunity to see a battle for the championship until at Valencia.

Having said that, there was still plenty of interest at the final round, not least because it was a race everybody wanted to win. Valentino was desperate to win it because he hadn’t been on the top step of the podium since Misano, Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa had the motivation of riding in front of their home crowd and Stoner wanted to cap off what would have been a perfect end to a tough season. In the end it was a richly deserved victory for Dani although I believe Casey’s crash denied us of the first chance to see a direct head-to-head battle between the two of them.

All in all it was another intriguing season and once again Valentino showed us why he is widely regarded as the greatest of all time. A moment that summed him up for me came at Sepang, when he had his first opportunity to wrap up the championship. Coming onto the back straight in those soaking conditions he lost the front and the rear of his Yamaha and almost crashed, simply because he was pushing for a podium finish that he didn’t even need. That moment alone was a measure of his commitment to be successful and to entertain the crowds and it is that quality that keeps him at the very top of his game at this stage of his career.

To have won seven premier-class world titles is an incredible achievement and it is hard to see anybody equalling that level of dominance again in the near future, but I just have a sneaky feeling that either Lorenzo or Stoner can be that guy. Pedrosa will continue to win races when all his ducks are lined up in a row but the other two are strong enough in their own way to potentially dominate over the course of an entire season. We already saw that potential from Stoner in 2007 and towards the end of 2009 but I believe Lorenzo possesses it too. This year we saw him push Valentino hard for the title on a bike Valentino has created and developed. Lorenzo has been able to not only make that bike work for him but absolutely wax Valentino with it on a couple of occasions – most notably at Estoril. What he is capable of doing when he dictates development of a machine is anybody’s guess.

Having spent most of this column talking about the young guns, I can’t sign off without a special mention for Loris Capirossi. That guy has been in the paddock for over 20 years now and at Valencia he made his 299th Grand Prix appearance. This season has been one of his hardest, riding the uncompetitive Suzuki, but have you ever heard him publicly moan about his situation? Have you ever heard him whining: “I can’t race that guy, he’s on a better bike than me’? He goes out there, throws his gloves on the ground and just keeps on swinging. With the amount of determination and commitment he shows, combined with a huge amount of talent, he should have been MotoGP World Champion by now and I can guarantee you that if you put all of next year’s grid out there on Suzukis next season Loris would wax them all.

It just goes to show that all the right things have to be in the right place at the right time otherwise it is impossible to challenge for the title. Loris will be back next year, his enthusiasm undimmed and his motivation as high as ever. For the likes of Álvaro Bautista, who is joining him in the Suzuki garage next year, Marco Simoncelli, Ben Spies and the rest, he is the example to follow.

Randy