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As the new season looms ahead, MotoGPBlog presents a look ahead to the riders competing and assess what we might see from them between now and November. We’ll look at the contenders for race wins and perhaps for the title, the rookies and finally any other notables in the field.

Dani Pedrosa
pedrosa-motegi-07 Pedrosa will look to capitalise on his strong end to the 2007 season, during which the Honda seemed to gain power and agility and be challenging again for the lead. Pedrosa has previously been out-psyched by Rossi, catastrophically took out his team mate in 2006 to almost prevent him winning the championship, and has never seemed to enjoy his riding. Valencia 2007 seemed to change all that and a different, relaxed and in control Pedrosa emerged as he crossed the finish line. The broken hand in the off-season has caused a major dent in his season preparations, but expect him to return to the front end of the grid regularly, both Honda and Pedrosa having remembered how to win.

Nicky Hayden
hayden-sepang-07-smallHe showed himself to be a decent man in 2007 by not complaining about the below-par Honda, and by getting his head down and getting on with the job, grinding out what he could from the races. In 2008 he has, thanks to Pedrosa’s bad luck, got an all-too-brief opportunity to have more influence over the shaping of the ‘08 Honda. The Honda ethos of small and agile is at odds with Hayden’s stature, but some recognition of this came from Big H in the latter races of 2007 with the larger fairing, and a reduction in the electronic assistance that allowed Hayden to start to show more of his skill. If this continues, expect to see him win a couple this year, though championship success does not look likely.

John Hopkins
Hopkins-test-jerez-ps-08Hopper got just what he didn’t want: an off-season injury to put him behind schedule. The newly-married rider needed this like a hole in the head, and now he has to get to grips with the Kawasaki in double-quick time. Target this year has to be a victory for Hopkins and Team Green: it has been a long time coming for both of them. Hopper began to look strong on the Suzuki towards the end of 2007, having a memorable dice or two with Rossi and Stoner and for his own sake needs to be challenging at the front.

Casey Stoner
Stoner-jerez-test-ps-08He has not shown any hint of slowing down over the off-season and will do all he can to maintain his momentum from 2007. The seemingly perfect combination of his front-end heavy style and the Ducati chassis, electronics and power need to be maintained to repeat his success this year, and I can’t see anyone in Italy wanting to fix what isn’t broken. Expect him to be at the front from the off, and to maintain his ability not to crack under pressure. If anyone thinks he ran a season-long fluke last year, just take a look at the Jerez “Race for the Car” this weekend: 1.3 seconds faster than Rossi. He has won the top honour once, why not again?

Valentino Rossi
rossi-jerez-test-ps-08Still generally accepted as the most talented rider in the paddock, and arguably of all time, Rossi is hungry for victory. Changing tyres and with a new engine in the Yamaha, there is much to adjust to and his recent comments of needing time to get used to the tyres are sounding a note of caution in his expectations. In the off season Yamaha have been working hard on the engine to address Rossi’s publicly aired views on the lack of power, but a lot has changed on the bike and in the pit box for Yamaha. With change comes uncertainty; Rossi could return to his old form of playing with the opposition before slaughtering them in the final laps, or he could face another year of struggling to keep up with the leader.

And the winner will be…
The championship winner will be one of Stoner, Rossi or Pedrosa. Rossi is free from his tax distractions now and ready to win, Stoner determined to maintain his utter dominance and Pedrosa now confident enough to fight with either, or both, following his Valencia performance in 2007. Given the disruption in the Yamaha team, and the resources of the Honda empire, I’m going for Pedrosa this year. One thing is for sure, it will be a more exciting and open season than 2007 turned out to be.