Couldn't see another thread for this

Anyone know when the first round is on TV? I know its this weekend just not sure when!

Last night at 6pm on BBC2. Casey Stoner looks like he could do it again on his Honda -very, very impressive ride from him. I bet Dani Pedrosa will be helping him out in the future.

I watched the race and was suprised in how many bikes there were in it.I think it was 16,how come it's only that many.I would have thought it would be in the 20's at least.Is it the cost of running a team as the lower classes looked to have a lot more riders in them.

I think it must be the money plus there were no Suzuki bikes on the grid for the first time in 37 years or so.

Finances unfortunately.

Kawasaki pulled out a couple of years ago because of cost, so that is two out (although a privateer Kawasaki did run for one year) and Suzuki have cut their operations back to one bike this year (although Alvaro Bautista was injured for the first race).

The cost cutting plans introduced last year haven't really cut operating costs, mainly because the material costs were never that high in comparative terms. The costs came from the R&D that goes into creating an 800cc engine for a prototype chassis, something which the manufacturers wouldn't normally invest in unless they were seriously committed to GP racing - and only Honda, Yamaha and Ducati have been for the past three years.

This is the last season with 800cc engines, with the championship changing back to 1,000cc next year. That change should cut costs more dramatically as almost every manufacturer has a 1,000cc production engine to base their development on and it should also encourage more manufacturers into MotoGP. BMW is reportedly testing a prototype "MotoGP legal" chassis with the engine from the S1000RR Superbike and there has been occasional speculation surrounding Aprilia (who might have a few spare quid if they don't provide the engines for the new Moto3 championship next season).

In Moto2, all of the engines are identical Honda 600cc engines with only the chassis being different between bikes. In the 125cc championship, most of the bikes are either Aprilia or Derbi - two manufacturers who already produce huge amounts of 125cc engines, meaning lower R&D costs. Most of the riders are also in their mid-late teens, which means that they get paid peanuts if at all.

I've been more interested in superbikes the last few seasons, both the BSB and WSB have had me hooked! Really looking forward to Josh Brookes riding the TAS Suzuki (and hopefully Guy Martin at a few BSB rounds in the superstock)

In the worlds, i'm following the supersports closer than the main series, Sam Lowes is a top rider and an all round nice guy, let me stumble into his garage at oulton park last season and have a chat and a pic with him and his british champs trophy!

MotoGP, ANYONE BUT LORENZO AND ROSSI! and i'll be happy! (Would like to see Ben Spies do well)

I think Ben Spies will do very well.

Does the fact the team will pool more behind Lorenzo make it tough for him? I think it will, free practice for Jerez is on from 12.10 today on eurosport2, might give it a watch

Possibly will but that will motivate Spies' team to do better and if he does get better results than Lorenzo that could get very interesting in the Yamaha garage. He might even go off in a huff.

Lorenzo throwing a paddy would make my day! As an aside, I thought Cal Crutchlow did ok in the first round, despite missing the top end of a finger!

Another one to throw a strop could be Dani Pedrosa after being shown how to ride by Casey Stoner.

Pedrosa will be interesting if he consistently ends up looking at Stoner's exhaust pipe. His agent practically runs the Repsol Honda team (which was what ultimately forced Nicky Hayden out) and if things aren't going his way, the toys will come out of the pram.

He has to keep on the bike though. In the past, he has been far too crash-prone and when you only have 6 engines to get you through an 18 round season, you can't go filling them with gravel.

To be honest, I think Stoner could end up building a very big lead in this championship before the rest have had chance to catch up. This new gearbox on the Honda seems to be working very well (although I'd be interested to see how it works on slower circuits like Assen and Le Mans) and I can't see the likes of Yamaha really wanting to relax the limits on their engines to compensate.

Eventful race to say the least today in Jerez.

Stoner taken out by Rossi early on (expect plenty of fall-out over the marshalling on that one), Simoncelli crashing out from a commanding lead and then Spies crashing late on from a solid second position.

Jorge Lorenzo will think it's Christmas today.