Round six of the series was the Grand Prix of Catalunya, at the fast Barcelona circuit. Stoner and Lorenzo had both won there in the past, but Rossi was the man with eight GP wins at the track, including five from six in the premier class from 2001-06. The 2008 winner, and lap record holder, was Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, who had knocked himself about in a crash during the recent Mugello race.

Barcelona saw the first change to the MotoGP rider line-up for 2009, with a new man joining Yuki Takahashi in the Scot Racing Honda team. 28-year-old Gábor Talmácsi is a very experienced 125cc GP racer, with over 130 races run on five different makes of bike, nine wins, and the World Championship title in 2007. Talmácsi earned his slot on Takahashi’s second bike by bringing sponsorship money into the team. He is the first Hungarian rider in the premier class since Jánosz Drapál’s last outing in 1976.

But qualifying was all about the usual suspects. Yamaha’s two works riders traded lap times until Lorenzo ended up on pole position, just fractionally ahead of second man Rossi. Fractions of a second covered the first half of the grid, and more, on this occasion - a fifth row slot was in fact just 0.2s from being a second row slot. But the leading Yamaha challenger was of course Stoner, third on the Ducati.

Pedrosa’s fitness was quite possibly part of the reason why he managed only eighth, which made him fourth of the Honda men. Repsol team-mate Andrea Dovizioso led the RCV group in fourth, with Gresini rider Toní Elías a season best fifth and LCR rider Randy de Puniet seventh. The third Yamaha got in among the Hondas, with Tech 3 man Colin Edwards sixth. His team-mate James Toseland was ninth, also a best so far this year for the Englishman.

Mika Kallio was tenth on the Pramac Ducati, and then came the Rizla Suzuki pair, with eleventh and twelfth making it the worst qualifying of 2009 for the Suzuki team. Loris Capirossi headed Chris Vermeulen on the blue bikes. Nicky Hayden (Marlboro Ducati), Alex de Angelis (Gresini Honda), the returning Sete Gibernau (Hernando Ducati), Takahashi, Marco Melandri (Hayate Kawasaki), Niccolò Canepa (Pramac Ducati) and Talmácsi completed the grid.

Hot and dry conditions for the race saw the main contenders opt for the hardest compound Bridgestone tyres, and the first three qualifiers got away in that order. Lorenzo, Rossi and Stoner led de Puniet, Pedrosa, Dovizioso, Elías, Capirossi, Edwards, Kallio, Melandri and Hayden. Takahashi crashed out at the fast Revolt Campsa right-hander, onto the back straight.

The Barcelona main start-finish straight is one of the longest and fastest in GP racing, leading to the heavy braking right-handed Elf first corner. With the first three already beginning to ease clear of their pursuers, Stoner tried to get past Rossi at Elf with the aid of a slipstream along the straight, but without finding enough pace to move in front. Behind, Pedrosa did take fourth from de Puniet at Elf, and Capirossi had quickly despatched Elías.

Stoner set fastest lap and again tried to pass Rossi for second at Elf, with a slipstream, but the Italian had the edge on late braking. Instead, Valentino was able to challenge Lorenzo, and on the inside at the Elf corner he got ahead of the Spaniard. The second group now comprised Pedrosa, de Puniet, Dovizioso and Capirossi, but Andrea and Loris took it in turn to move past Randy, who would then start to lose touch with the other three.

Rossi, Lorenzo and Stoner continued at the head of the field, but with gaps between them starting to open up. Casey was already one second back from the second Yamaha when Jorge made a mistake by going wide out of Elf, losing ground to Valentino but getting round the corner and staying second. However, Lorenzo could then close the gap back to Rossi, leaving third place for Stoner, who couldn’t match the Yamaha pace.

The second group had been headed by the Repsol Hondas of Pedrosa and Dovizioso, and fittingly it was at the Revolt Repsol, a long right-hand corner loop, that these two changed places as the Italian found a gap on the inside going into the bend. Thereafter, Andrea had been able to maintain a better pace, and stretch away from the less fit Dani. Later on in fact he closed the gap to third man Stoner while Pedrosa had attention from Capirossi.

But obviously the race win was between the Fiat Yamaha duo, and the order changed at Revolt la Caixa, the left-hander at the end of the back straight. Rossi would regularly put a leg out when braking for this corner, and sometimes he would also go onto a wider line. Lorenzo got on the inside braking here to take the lead, and Valentino would then track the younger man in second for a few laps. He has been successful in the past by going ahead late on and then stretching the pace.

With three laps left to run, Rossi pulled out of the slipstream to go to the right of Lorenzo and therefore make the pass into Elf. But the Spaniard stuck with him, and a lap later Jorge got the tow and passed him on the right along the straight - except this time Valentino tucked his knee in and immediately went to the left, braking later for Elf and therefore getting back into first place.

It all came down to the last lap then. Lorenzo went to the inside of Rossi and passed him at Elf as the lap began. The Italian tried to challenge him back at the immediate left-handed turn two but found no room. Revolt Repsol is turn four and Rossi went to the inside on the way in, only to therefore take himself out wide and let Lorenzo back through. Jorge took a defensive position approaching la Caixa, towards the end of the lap, moving left, and Valentino tried to attack him on the wider cornering line.

But Lorenzo was still first into the series of fast right-handers that complete the lap, the looping Banc de Sabadell, then Europcar and New Holland. Rossi concentrated on his best and fastest cornering technique, to get as close to Lorenzo as he could the further round they went. Rossi found unprecedented space for a late dive to the inside of Lorenzo for the New Holland corner, the final turn, and the Italian was past and just made it across the finish line first. It was one of the most dramatic wins in motor racing, and likewise one of the most exciting last lap battles.

Rossi was understandably overjoyed by his well fought victory, and couldn’t help but show it with his celebrations in front of Lorenzo’s home crowd - many of whom were Rossi fans of course. Given their uneasy relationship as team-mates and now title rivals, and given Rossi’s elation from the moment of victory at Lorenzo’s home race, the Italian was generously sporting towards his rival in the winners’ enclosure, although the Spaniard may not necessarily have found the moment easy.

A shattered Stoner held onto third despite the close attentions of Dovizioso at the finish, while the fifth man home was on his own. After an earlier trip through the run-off area on the outside at Elf, Capirossi had moved in and got past Pedrosa at Repsol to take the position, with the injured Spaniard doing well enough with sixth under the circumstances. Edwards had dealt with Elías and de Puniet for seventh, with Randy hanging on for eighth. Melandri had been into ninth before fading, with Kallio therefore taking it.

Elías had a lowside crash where he lost the rear when defending from Melandri at la Caixa, and so it was that Hayden was tenth. This was in fact his best finish of the season to date but still left him 87 points behind team-mate Stoner. Vermeulen, de Angelis, Toseland, Melandri and Gibernau completed the points positions, with Canepa and Talmácsi the last men home.

So Valentino Rossi made it nine wins in Barcelona in sensational style, with Jorge Lorenzo virtually equalling him and looking like his closest matched team-mate in MotoGP. With Casey Stoner hanging on to third in the race it couldn’t be closer - all three riders have won twice and scored 106 points. It seems too late for the Honda challenge in 2009, although that won’t stop them trying to regain race winning form, but the Yamaha-Ducati tussle is well and truly on. Or it could at least end up as a Yamaha versus Yamaha tussle, and hopefully one as riveting as this race was.

Standings after six races: Stoner, Lorenzo and Rossi 106; Dovizioso 69; Pedrosa 67; Edwards 54; Melandri 50; Capirossi 49; Vermeulen and de Puniet 42.
Yamaha 140; Ducati 106; Honda 89; Suzuki 60; Kawasaki 50.

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