BBC Sport motorsport

By Steve Parrish BBC motorbikes commentator

After three races of the MotoGP season things are starting to hot up nicely.

Nobody thought the 20-year-old would dominate proceedings quite like he has, least of all his Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi. Steve Parrish on Jorge Lorenzo

Everything seems to be falling into a pattern and four main protagonists look set to dominate this season.

The usual suspects of Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa have been joined by Spanish superkid Jorge Lorenzo.

Nobody thought the 20-year-old would dominate proceedings quite like he has, least of all his Yamaha team-mate Rossi.

Rossi began the season with his sights firmly set on defending world champion Stoner, but maybe he should have been looking closer to home as Lorenzo is flying.

Three pole positions in his first three races is an awesome achievement and he will fancy his chances after winning the 250cc race in Shanghai last year.

It will be interesting to see what impact the operation he had on his arm just after the Estoril race will have.

He was suffering from compartmental syndrome, which occurs when muscles get too big for the arm. Surgery helps loosen muscle compression, which relieves pain.

It is pretty common and plenty of other riders have had it so he should be back and raring to go in Shanghai.

SHANGHAI MOTOGP 125 and 250cc races live: Sunday, BBCi (Freeview channel 301) and BBC Sport website, 0445-0715 Race live: Sunday, BBC One and BBC Sport website, 0745-0900 Race re-run: Sunday, BBCi (Freeview channel 302) and BBC Sport website 1230-1500 Coverage on the BBC Sport website is available for UK users only MotoGP on the BBC

He wouldn't have had the op if he felt concerned that it would have affected him for Sunday's race.

I expect Stoner to roar back to form after a testing time in the last two races. I just feel he has been very unlucky.

Last year he sailed through the season with barely any problems, but this year things haven't gone all his own way - shown by an onboard camera coming loose and affecting his race in Portugal.

But things like that happen to everyone and I see it as just a blip.

He hasn't been helped though by his tyre manufacturer Bridgestone being put on the back foot by the performance of rivals Michelin.

It's a reversal of last year's fortunes when it was Michelin who were left scratching their heads a bit.

Bridgestone is playing catch up but is introducing a new specification rear tyre this weekend that it feels will help with grip.

That said, Michelin did a day's testing after Estoril and rider Colin Edwards was raving about the performance of its development tyres.

So an interesting game of cat and mouse is being played out among the teams and manufacturers and that is great for the sport.

On to British sensation James Toseland and it was another fabulous performance by him at Estoril on a track he had never seen before.

The level of competition on the grid is so high that for him to even finish in tenth place would be a great result.

But for him to come sixth, sixth and seventh in the first three races of his debut season is superb.

He has been criticised for his aggressive tactics, but it's a breath of fresh air seeing people like Toseland and Lorenzo passing people where you don't expect them to.

I think it's absolutely brilliant and will hopefully make some of the old timers out there be a bit more forceful themselves.

Toseland's pleased with his new engine as it has given him better fuel economy and helped him reach better top speeds.

However, it seems like everyone is developing week in, week out so he can't afford to be complacent, but it's so far so good.

Shanghai prediction: 1. Stoner 2. Rossi 3. Lorenzo

Also don't forget to tune into our coverage of Northern Ireland's famous NW200 race around the Portstewart-Coleraine-Portrush triangle. We have a preview programme on Wednesday 14 May, followed by live action on Saturday 17 and a highlights show on Sunday 18. For detailed listings click here

Steve Parrish was talking to Paul Birch