But the biggest concern was for Daijiro Kato’s condition, following a major incident early in the race, when the Honda rider’s machine crashed heavily into a wall. Kato’s inert form was removed from the circuit as the race continued, before being airlifted to hospital. Reports came back that Daijiro had suffered serious head injuries, and was fighting for his life. Sadly, he will not be able to race again.

The number of starters had already been depleted, when Fortuna Yamaha’s Marco Melandri broke his leg in a practice crash. His place on the M1 went to former race winner Norick Abe, the d’Antin team’s 2003 test rider. Alex Barros, on the sister Gauloises machine, also crashed during the Sunday morning warm-up, but struggled onto the grid just the same.

Qualifying had taken place in mostly wet conditions, with Rossi taking pole ahead of Max Biaggi and Tohru Ukawa, both on Camel Pramac Pons Hondas. Carlos Checa was fourth for Fortuna, with Makoto Tamada, Sete Gibernau (both Honda), Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) and Barros lining up on the second row. Colin Edwards headed the third rank for Aprilia, with the best placed Ducati thirteenth (Troy Bayliss) and Kawasakis no better than eighteenth (wildcard Akira Yanagawa).

The Japanese Grand Prix started with Checa taking the lead, ahead of Biaggi, Ducati’s Loris Capirossi (up from fifteenth!) and Rossi. After a small gap, the next group comprised Bayliss, Roberts, Shin’ya Nakano, Abe and Tamada. Before the end of the first lap, Biaggi had passed ex-team-mate Checa, and Capirossi had passed them both. Impressively, the Ducati Desmosedici led into lap two on its GP début, from Biaggi, Rossi, Checa, Roberts and Bayliss. Kato was now seventh, in front of four more home riders - Tamada, Abe, Ukawa, Nakano. Twelfth was Gibernau, from Edwards, Nicky Hayden, Noriyuki Haga and Barros.

With a familiar all-Italian look at the front, Rossi now found his way past eternal rival Biaggi, and started to attack Capirossi. A gap had opened behind this trio, to Bayliss’ Ducati, which was under pressure from Ukawa. Or it was until the Honda man went off the track in his attempts to progress. At this point came the incident involving Kato, and it meant a big shuffle in the order of the next group of runners.

Checa had already gone down to sixth, before Ukawa’s indiscretion, where he was then caught and passed by Gibernau, up from twelfth. The accident with Kato almost certainly affected Roberts and Abe, as Gibernau and Checa now led Tamada, Nakano and Hayden. However, the Yamahas of Checa and Nakano seemed to go backwards from here, which was the opposite of Rossi’s Honda, as it now took the lead on the main straight, and the champion never looked back.

After Capirossi made a mistake - that wasn’t shown on the television coverage I received - the order settled down with Rossi running clear of Biaggi, and Capirossi third but regaining some ground. Behind him, Gibernau was on his own in fourth, and next came Bayliss, Tamada, Edwards and Hayden. Proton’s race was over, as Jeremy McWilliams crashed, while Nobuatsu Aoki had to withdraw to the pits. Also in trouble was Haga on the second Aprilia, which went down, but he was able to rejoin the race.

Tamada’s good start in GPs was over when his Bridgestone-shod RCV went off track, and brought him down, when he had been running fifth. Meanwhile, Capirossi had caught up to Biaggi, only to find that his rival was able open up the gap again. This meant that the top five were all separated from one another, and the first close race for position was between the American débutants, Hayden and Edwards. Also in combat were Nakano and Barros, in eighth and ninth, and their battle brought them up to the two guys ahead for a four-way tussle.

Checa was now tenth, Abe was eleventh, and then came a pair of Suzukis, with Roberts trying to get in front of junior partner Hopkins. Haga was back to fourteenth, and Olivier Jacque was next. The Kawasakis of Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt disputed P16, with the younger man ahead at one point, before McCoy recovered the place.

As the finish drew nearer, Rossi’s lead proved he had everyone else’s measure, and fastest lap underlined the fact. All that remained were a few battles for the minor placings. Edwards passed Hayden for sixth, and Barros did the same to Nakano to become the lead Yamaha man in eighth. Haga was also on a mission, relegating both Suzukis as he moved into twelfth.

And that was how they finished, with Rossi winning from Biaggi, Capirossi, Gibernau and Bayliss. Edwards held onto sixth, but Hayden was right with him at the flag. And then came the Yamahas of Barros, Nakano, Checa and Abe, ahead of Haga, Hopkins, Roberts and Jacque. It had been a very good day for the first timers - particularly Ducati, Bayliss, Edwards and Hayden; a great day for Honda - four in the top seven; but a disappointing day for the other Japanese makes, and a terrible one for Kato.

Standings after one race: Rossi 25; Biaggi 20; Capirossi 16; Gibernau 13; Bayliss 11; Edwards 10; Hayden 9; Barros 8; Nakano 7; Checa 6.

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