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Motegi review: Returning to form

Jorge Lorenzo wasn't the only one to return to form in Japan, taking a dominant victory over Valentino Rossi. Motegi also signalled a rebirth for Marco Melandri as he rode his Hayate Kawasaki to sixth place

There are many characters in any motorsport paddock. It is no different from any large village in that there are good guys, great guys, a few village idiots and some bandits all thrown in. Just like a village pub.

Similarly, there are guys who struggle with their bikes and then get on another and flower. One such guy is Marco Melandri, who last weekend at Motegi got rid of a large part of 16 months worth of angst and frustration in one race. Sixth position might not be something to wave a flag about, but for a Kawasaki to do that with no works effort is a cracking on to be a miracle.

Melandri was a way back from the fighting pack a fair few seconds up the road, but he managed to wrestle the bike way ahead of others who are far more experienced with their own packages, bearing in mind this is his third bike in three years. With a truncated Friday, a wet Saturday morning, no qualifying and then a wet double-length warm up, the race itself was dry and on a green track; a situation that was far from easy.

But what people must not forget is that here is a guy who rode like hell to nearly win the 125 title in 1999 with two less races than everyone else because he whacked himself in the early season, he won the 250 title and then came second in the 2005 MotoGP championship behind that rather talented chap, Valentino Rossi.

Only towards the end of last year did he recover a little bit more, but the hobble and limp took the edge of the swagger that he had before the massive highsides.

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