The MotoGP grid in Catalunya looked bleak as the race got under way, as it’s tended to recently. For the first part of the race, it didn’t matter. But then the mistakes mounted up.

It started with Dani Pedrosa who, weighing about the same as a sparrow, was first into the first corner, and then promptly went very wide and off the track. That was him out of contention for the win.

That left Andrea Dovizioso to challenge Jorge Lorenzo, the two excitedly swapping places, with Casey Stoner close behind in third. Then it was Stoner’s turn to run well wide, and drop back from the leaders. Finally Dovizioso decided to bin it entirely, leaving Lorenzo to have it all to himself.

What’s frustrating is that there was the start of a really good race, right up to the point that Lorenzo was abandoned completely at the front. Is the problem the breadth, or the depth of the grid?

If you look at the results, there are riders who you’d think should have been waiting to take advantage of the misfortune of others. But no, Lorenzo was joined on the podium by Pedrosa and Stoner, despite their mistakes.

Where was Stoner’s team mate and former world champion, Nicky Hayden, who has by and large had a better season than Stoner so far? Down in 8th, nearly 30 seconds behind the winner, and fractions of a second ahead of Marco Melandri, who was riding with a broken sternum. Not good enough!

The best of the customer teams, Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda, was 4th, but 18 seconds off the winner, and 13 seconds off the podium places. Ben Spies was the best Tech 3 Yamaha, in 6th, 22 seconds behind Lorenzo’s factory bike. Colin Edwards was an alarming 11th.

The customer bikes are supposed to be pretty close to the factory equivalents. So is the problem the riders or the equipment? Who knows, but it’s a sorry state of affair that they can’t compete at all with the ‘aliens’, even when they make a bit of a mess of it.

In better news, Suzuki got their best result for ages, Alvaro Bautista 5th and Loris Capirossi 7th. It was nice to see their bikes, with that rather smashing shade of blue, getting some TV time.

And in even better news, we might have Valentino Rossi back for the next race, if rumours are to be believed. Even if he’s still very much recovering, the MotoGP grid will be a less bleak place with Rossi on it.