"If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor," sang indie shoegazers James way back in 1989. While they sadly never released a MotoGP concept album, the phrase holds a certain relevance for the past week of developments in preparation for the 2012 season.

James Ellison announced his return to the World Championship with Paul Bird Motorsport, in a move that came from left-field and took the paddock by surprise. The same James Ellison who last raced in MotoGP in 2006? The same James Ellison who rollerbladed every track on the calendar at a speed probably not too far off that of an

As Casey Stoner and Ben Spies flew down the straight
for the final time in the 2011 season, it was almost as if both of them were
racing to bring the 800cc era to a close as quickly as possible.

The much-maligned white elephant of the MotoGP World
Championship was bid a fond 'good riddance', at Valencia, ironically with one
of the closest duels for victory of its lifetime.

An experiment gone wrong, a case of technology
outpacing regulations or an unpredicted cure for insomnia - depending on your
opinion and level of tact - it is hard to find anyone with anything positive to
say about the past

There are one
hell of a lot of loose ends to be tied up this weekend at the last round of the
2011 season, but the 17-race world tour is crawling to its chequered flag - run
down, out of gas, battered and bruised- rather than crossing the line with a
triumphant wheelie.

Team line-ups
unannounced, the lower cylinder category titles to be decided and a premier
class swansong to come, there are still questions that will go unanswered for
the time being.

The ambience at
Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit will be a sombre one after the events of
October 23rd, and the racing will serve as a coping

CRT, team changes, 1000cc testing and world title run-ins seemed highly important last week. It turns out that they really aren't.

The Malaysian Grand Prix really takes it out of those in MotoGP, with its place towards the end of the calendar and role as part of three flyaway races - often on consecutive weekends. There is an air of tension between travellers, inevitable after three weeks living in each others' pockets, whilst those with family back in Europe or in the United States are ready to hop on the next plane back to see their loved ones.

It is so very sad that Marco Simoncelli will

So, on Sunday
morning what we all expected came to pass: Pope Benedict XVI announced that he
was partial to a good Mass and a bear owned up to a rather unsightly mess in
local forestry. Alright, that may be slight embellishment on this column's
part, but what was confirmed at Phillip Island was equally unsurprising: Casey
Stoner became the new MotoGP World Champion.

Jorge Lorenzo's
crash-induced absence from the main event made life easier for the Australian,
but Stoner was never going to settle for second place anyway. In 2007 he had to
be convinced by the event organisers and his Ducati team

The old guard took steps out of the premier class this weekend, with Loris Capirossi announcing his retirement at the end of the season and Colin Edwards making a withdrawal of sorts to the CRT second tier.

It is uncharacteristically late for the 'rider roundabout; to really kick into gear, and this owes a lot to a lack of genuine candidates for a MotoGP ride. These past few weeks, the Spanish media have been particularly keen to place one of their own onto the provisional 2012 grid - one Marc Márquez.

Adding fuel to their argument has been the great form shown by their latest idol in the

When we look back on the 2011 season, we
may well be able to pinpoint the Indianapolis Grand Prix as the moment the
title was decided.

Jorge Lorenzo appeared every bit the
defeated champion when he slumped into his chair at the end of the race at 'The
Brickyard,' having seen his chances of retaining the MotoGP crown grow
ever-slimmer. There was the wave to the camera, a shrug of the shoulders and a
look of resignation etched across his face.

"Mathematically, it's still possible. But
with every race it becomes more difficult," he commented afterwards to Spanish
television.

Casey Stoner is

MotoGP returns Stateside this week for the Indianapolis
Grand Prix, one of the most distinctive events on the calendar - but not
necessarily one of the most successful.

After four years of the series running two US rounds,
and with the prospect of the Texan Grand Prix joining the circus from 2013, has
the Indianapolis race and MotoGP in general captured the American audience's
imagination?

America is a big target market for Dorna, and the
quality of the on-track action at Indianapolis and Laguna Seca almost takes a
back seat to the promotional side of things. The rights holders lobby to get