It is strange to be sat here with less than a month to go before the start of the season and only have two MotoGP test sessions to reflect on so far this year, with only one more to go before that opening race under the lights in Qatar. Time is obviously now running out for the engineers to make adaptations to the bikes, with their main focus being to adapt their machines to the narrow choice of rubber afforded by the single tyre rule.

With the reduced winter testing programme and a further two hours of practice shaved off each Grand Prix weekend, time is going to be very much of the essence and the new rules clearly favour the riders who were on Bridgestones last year, since they are the only ones with data for the vast majority of circuits. For the riders who were on Michelins last year it is going to make life very tough. It is not as simple as giving James Toseland the same bike and tyres as Valentino Rossi and expecting him to go just as fast because each rider is looking for something different and unique to them.

This is a factor that has always been present at any level of motorcycle racing and with the tyre variable now taken out it puts extra pressure on the engineers, especially with such a limited amount of time for them to work in. Take Jorge Lorenzo as another example: Jorge left the Malaysia test struggling to get into the top ten but by Qatar, a track he went particularly well at last year, he managed to finish off second fastest after several hours of set-up time. But how will he cope when faced with just three 45-minute sessions at a track he hasn’t tested at? That is why whatever happens in Qatar we’ll get a better idea of what to expect this season when we go to the second round at Motegi, Japan.

It is a similar situation for Dani Pedrosa, who rode Bridgestones towards the end of last year but due to the flexibility in the rules at that time was able to use a construction that suited him. Dani’s choice for the Honda was different to the one Stoner used on the Ducati and consequently the one Rossi had on the Yamaha, because Rossi had been smart from the outset when he changed to Bridgestone - insisting on the same tyre as Stoner and adapting his machine and riding style to it. Suzuki caught onto the idea and have built a chassis that works for the tyre Stoner and Rossi were winning on because, being Bridgestone’s most successful construction, it would naturally be the first choice for their monotyre in 2009, which will be a single, hard construction with a choice of medium or hard compound.

It means Dani must push the limits of the bike even when he is not comfortable with the tyre and we have already seen how dangerous this can be in testing, with poor Dani now facing a race against time to be fit for the first race after suffering a horrendous injury to his knee. Losing Dani to injury and with Toseland also struggling for confidence after a big crash of his own, is a situation that MotoGP as a spectacle could do without. There have been lots of other crashes during testing, which makes me want to laugh at the people who claim electronics are making these bikes ‘uncrashable’, and there is no doubt that the new practice and testing restrictions put extra pressure on the riders. Every time they go out on that motorcycle there will be no opportunity to relax. Every second is precious and they cannot afford to lose their focus at any point.

All of this falls into the hands of Casey Stoner, who not only has relevant data from last year but is also one of the quickest riders, if not the quickest, at getting a machine set up to do quick lap times within the first session. In terms of consistency Casey is also very strong and the odds on him winning in Qatar must be very short. Even before Dani’s injury he looked to be making slow progress on the new construction Bridgestone and even if he is fit for Qatar it is hard to look past Stoner and Rossi.

Being an American it is great to see Ben Spies doing so well, winning three out of the opening four World Superbikes races. It looks like the rest of the field were lucky he got run off track in race one at Phillip Island otherwise it could have been four out of four. Ben had a few options at the end of last season after being so impressive during a handful of MotoGP appearances and we knew he would be competitive in whatever series he went to. World Superbikes are lucky to have him and already the championship looks like it will be between him, Nori Haga and Max Biaggi. Haga has been as quick as we expected on the Ducati and it has been nice to see Biaggi doing so well with the new Aprilia. That bike has been one of the highlights of the racing year for me so far and it has also been interesting to see the mix of different Hondas up there, with Leon Haslam on the podium in Australia and Ryuichi Kiyonari finishing fourth in the race two in Qatar. The racing in WSB so far this year has also highlighted the point I was making above about what we can expect from MotoGP this year, in terms of the importance of getting the best out of your tyres. Troy Corser was a good example of this at the weekend, lapping on the pace for the opening few laps before dropping back. BMW have made a great bike but they have got work to do on making the single tyre last.

It was also great to see Eugene Laverty take his first win in the World Supersport class and even better to see his girlfriend Pippa smiling on Eurosport! The pair of them had a rough time in the Grand Prix paddock but they were always in good spirits and great company. As anybody who has been bitten in the 250cc class in the past knows, if you don’t have at least a semi-official bike then you’re going nowhere and that was certainly the case for Eugene. It is great to see that he has landed on his feet and he can now go for a championship because he certainly deserves it.

As many of you know it has been a bit of a disappointing winter for me with the withdrawal of Eurosport’s coverage of MotoGP and then the announcement that they will be covering the championship but without an onsite presence at most of the races. Unfortunately I have other commitments, like the Ducati two-seat bike and my role with the WMG management group that looks after Bradley Smith and a few other riders, so I really need to be at the racetrack. It means that the longstanding team of Toby Moody, Julian Ryder and myself is no longer and it is a shame because it has been a lot of fun. The support we have received from fans since the news broke has been amazing and I want to thank everybody for their kind comments. I’ve enjoyed the last ten or eleven years doing what I like to do best, which is talk about our sport, and I’d love to join the team again soon. Hopefully we can work something out one day.

Bradley has been down here at my home near Barcelona with his family, training for pretty much the whole of February. It has been a lot of fun and it has really helped my son Dakota who is racing in the pre-GP 125 Championship down here in Spain this season. In fact, he kicked off his campaign with a fifth place last Sunday and the races are coming thick and fast over the next few weeks. I’ll let you know how he gets on in my next column after the final MotoGP preseason test at Jerez on 28th-29th March, when there will be a new BMW up for grabs for the fastest rider and the excitement will really start to build for the new season.