Buzzin MotoGP

The long wait is almost over for Moto racing fans as the 2011 MotoGP Championship finally gets underway this week from the Losail Circuit in Qatar.

Can Valentino Rossi tame the Ducati as he did with Yamaha back in 2004 and be in with a chance of claiming his eighth MotoGP title? There are plenty of championship contenders, including World Champions past and present who will be trying their best to prevent that happening, all with a fantastic opportunity of their own to claim this years title.

If testing is anything to go by, the Honda appears to be the machine on the pace, boding well for Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, but expect the gap to close when the racing actually gets underway.

Yamaha remains the bike to beat and with Ben Spies joining current World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, only a fool would write them off this season.

There are eight British riders involved across the three classes in 2011, Cal Crutchlow makes the step up from World Superbike to mix it with the big boys aboard the Yamaha of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team.

In the Moto2 line up, fans will be expecting a bit more this season from Scott Redding who started to stamp his authority on the class towards the end of last season, he is joined in Moto2 by the nearly man of 125cc, Bradley Smith and Scottish rider Kev Coghlan.

In the 125c Championship, three-time British Superbike champion Niall Mackenzie’s son Taylor will join Danny Webb, Danny Kent and Harry Stafford.

As always British Eurosport will be providing full coverage of the event, starting on Thursday with the practise sessions from all three classes.

Enjoy hearing Toby Moody and Julian Ryder get over excited as the season kicks off  at the following times:

Thursday 17 March
1650-1750 LIVE MotoGP practice on British Eurosport 2
1750-1850 LIVE 125cc practice on British Eurosport 2
1850-1935 LIVE Moto2 practice on British Eurosport 2

Friday 18 March
1555-1655 LIVE 125cc practice on British Eurosport 2
1655-1755 LIVE Moto2 practice on British Eurosport 2
1755-1845 LIVE MotoGP practice on British Eurosport 2

Saturday 19 March
1455-1555 LIVE 125cc qualifying on British Eurosport 2
1555-1655 LIVE Moto2 qualifying on British Eurosport 2
1655-1800 LIVE MotoGP qualifying on British Eurosport 2

Sunday 20 March
1545-1715 LIVE 125cc race on British Eurosport 2
1715-1825 LIVE Moto2 race on British Eurosport 2
1825-1925 Classic Race: Welkom GP (2004) on British Eurosport 2
2000-2130 MotoGP race on British Eurosport 2