MotoGP: Catalonia GP 2011 far from a classic

Marco Simoncelli answered his critics, of whom there were many in officialdom, the pit lane, the media and the stands, by putting in a final third of his last lap in qualifying that defied belief. Despite riding a spectacular lap, Casey Stoner, who had held provisional pole for several minutes, could not find Simoncelli's pace.

But come Sunday morning, all the rubbering in of the past two days was washed away by a fierce thunderstorm. And although the track surface dried, the temperature remained low as cloud obscured the summer sun.

As the race started, with most riders concerned about the prospect of rain and wet-weather bikes warmed up in the pit lane after the declaration by Race Control of a wet race, tyre choice became both critical and a matter of guesswork. If rain came part-way through, then the best option for the early part of the race would have been soft tyres. If the race ran its full distance then the soft tyres - especially on the right-side shoulder - would be shredded with the risk of loss of grip and, ultimately, control. With Colin Edwards hospitalised on Friday when his tyres gave way and several other crashes, the riders wanted a full length dry race, but were prepared for anything. Most gambled on at least one soft tyre.

Although rain started to spot, then lightly drizzle, on the start-finish straight, just after half-way into the race, it slowed the race leader down by a couple of tenths per lap while he assessed the situation and then he returned to full pace.

That race leader was Casey Stoner. Simoncelli fluffed his first MotoGP start from pole and slid backwards, engulfed by the second row. Stoner and Lorenzo had a bit of a ding-dong until Stoner made a safe but decisive pass and shot off to hold station at roughly 2 seconds ahead of Lorenzo. Spies rode around on his own one to two seconds behind Lorenzo looking a little like he lacked confidence in his bike after he broke free of Dovizioso and Rossi.

Simoncelli made one demon overtaking move: his usual dive down the inside. This time he made a clean pass into sufficient space.

A three-way battle between Dovizioso, Spies, and Rossi brightened up the event but, in reality, it was dull.

From a results perspective, Cal Crutchlow, supported from the pits by Edwards who had checked himself out of hospital to support his team-mate, was something of a star: he had never raced at Barcelona but even so finished eight.

Hayden, as usual, failed to come up to the mark. Rossi is clearly getting to grips with the Ducati and making his team-mate look less than sparkling.

But the race was, after the first couple of laps, largely processional and - for a series that thrives on thrills - a major disappointment. Of course, not every race can be a classic. But MotoGP has come to deliver such high standards race after race after race that when one fails to bring fans to the edge of the seat, it all seems sadly missing something.