#the neat thing about jorge/dani after three races is they're actually EXACTLY tied on countback. one win one second place one third place

[batsplat]

Mugello 2008: After failing to win the title in both 2006 and 2007, Valentino Rossi went into the 2008 season with a point to prove - and a rival he desperately needed to figure out how to best. As he put it halfway through 2007, "Last year we had to fight against bad luck, this year we have to fight against a real rival". The 'real rival' in question was Casey Stoner, who ended up securing the 2007 title in dominant fashion. The combination of the powerful GP7, courtesy of Ducati nailing the new 800cc regulations first time of asking, the high-performing Bridgestone tyres and Stoner's own fearsome talent had proven too much for the field. Perhaps even more frustratingly, Stoner was proving resilient against the kind of psychological pressure Rossi excelled at exerting on his rivals - refusing to crack when being stalked around the track and, most memorably, winning a frenzied duel at Catalunya in a weekend where the Yamaha was more than a match for the Ducati.

Rossi had spent much of 2007 deeply unhappy with both the underpowered Yamaha and his struggling Michelin tyres, feeling he was unable to fight Stoner on equal footing. For 2008, he made the controversial switch from Michelins to Bridgestones - a concession of sorts that his wits and raw talent were no longer enough to beat rivals with better packages. His early season did not immediately vindicate this choice as his team took time to adapt to setting up for the new tyres, a period made all the more painful by his rookie teammate Jorge Lorenzo storming to the first three poles of the season and taking a race win before Rossi did. After three races, Lorenzo was tied in the championship lead with Dani Pedrosa, whose Honda was decidedly more competitive than the year before.

Luckily for Rossi, the rival he was most worried about was going through an even rockier start to the season, with Ducati experiencing plenty of gremlins and misfortunes early on that served to increasingly infuriate Stoner. By the fourth race, Rossi had mastered the tyres and took his first victory of the season in a fight against Pedrosa in Shanghai, before backing it up with a dominant win in Le Mans. He was the firm favourite headed into Mugello, having won his home race on the previous six occasions - and he did not disappoint his fans. Taking his first pole position in almost a year in a weather-affected qualifying session, he got a typically mediocre start and left himself with some work to do. In the first few laps, however, he fought against first Pedrosa then Stoner to eventually make his way back to the front, eventually building up a comfortable gap while Pedrosa and Stoner fought it out for second. Rossi consolidated his championship lead with his victory, but Stoner's eventual second place marked a worrying return to form. Stoner's title defence would require him to overhaul a substantial points difference of 46 - and yet it was far from impossible, if he could simply reclaim some of the magic of the year before. It would remain to be seen if Rossi had an answer for him this time.