Rossi is back

Just 6 weeks after crashing badly and having a bloody compound fracture of his tibia Valentino Rossi was back on track (despite having to walk the pit lane on crutches!) Are these MotoGP guys mad or what? At the end of lap one he was in 7th, then sixth, then fifth... He was fighting for fourth when, nine laps in, a major crash caused a red flag.

Randy De Punier (already riding with a bad injury) came off and then Espargaro hit his bike and went over the handlebars. Bautista then hit the bike which caught fire. Sadly De Punier’s injuries included fractures of the fibula and tibia. As one of the commentators said – “It’s not a knitting competition”.

There’s another £150,000 down the drain – and not even insured!!

So Rossi started the new, shortened, race in fifth place but dropped down to 6th again. It took less than a lap to get back to fifth. With 15 laps to go he was up to fourth. Pedrosa and Lorenzo were away in front but with 9 laps to go Rossi overtook Stoner for third. Stoner immediately got back. Three laps later Rossi got third and made it stick. Another lap and Stoner was back in front of him. Three laps to go and Rossi got ahead of Stoner again. Then the positions swapped again... Two laps to go and Rossi was once more in front. On the last lap, almost on the last corner Stoner got past Rossi again and got the podium position. What a race.

Nearly a podium finish for a man with broken leg. Like I said, these guys are mad.