Moto GP 2008 Betting
Moto GP, the premier class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing, has an annual calendar consisting of 18 rounds in 16 different countries. The 2008 season is looking like one of the best ever with full coverage on the BBC giving a ringside seat to all the pressured overtaking and dramatic crashes that are the norm in this exciting sport. Online betting fans will have plenty of opportunity to exercise their knowledge of the finer points of the men and machines battling it out for the Champions title.
The first race of the 2008 season was in Qatar on March 9 where last year's Champion, Australian Casey Stoner, claimed first place to present a powerful defence of his title. Stoner took the lead on his Ducati in the eighth lap and maintained this position without any serious threat from the rest of the field. Stoner?s strong start validates the bookies view that he will dominate the season and tends to justify his odds-on price at 8-15. Valentino Rossi, fifth in Qatar, is next favourite at 17-4 with James Toseland, the British hope on offer at 6-1.
Betting Favourites
Despite Stoner's threatened dominance, Toseland is confident he can be on the podium in the next round of the competition in Spain. From sixth at Qatar he reckons he can easily progress up the field with his Yamaha and believes the shorter straights will enable him to close in on the Ducatis. Finishing fifth in practice for the Jerez race has reinforced his confidence and impressed his team into rushing a new engine to him for his Tech 3 Yamaha which, if it arrives in time, can only help his cause.
Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi, five times champion, will be the first man to beat, however, given his determination to wrest the title from Stoner who was something of a surprise winner in 2007, only his second season. Toseland's hopes are not without substance though. This is his first year in Moto GP after moving up from World Superbikes where he was reigning champion. At the very least he intends to ensure that there is no repeat of last year's debacle where no British rider managed to score a single point. Toseland's team mate, American Colin Edwards and also a two-time World Superbike champion is also looking for his first win after five years of competing at this level.
Moto GP Betting
Stoner's team mate Marco Melandri will also be looking to add to his five victories in this class since holding the 250cc champion's title. Nicky Hayden, The Repsol Honda rider took the championship in 2006 but has struggled since and finished a disappointing eighth last year. Hayden's team-mate, and last year's runner-up, Dani Pedrosa, is thought to be too small to handle this level of race but he was the youngest ever 125cc and 250cc champion and won at Donnington in 2006. He also finished fifth in his debut season.
JIR Team Scot member, Andrea Dovizioso, riding a Honda, is a 21 year old rising star and definitely regarded as the one to watch. There?s no doubt that Stoner, with ten wins behind him from last season is going to take some beating. There's also no doubt that there are a number of seriously determined challengers to his throne and it's going to be a fascinating and exciting experience watching as each unfolds his plan to obtain dominance.
