MOTORCYCLING Live

22/22 The big man is back! Valentino Rossi WINS!! His first win of 2008 and he is right back in the title picture. Second place for Dani Pedrosa, who takes sole possession of the championship lead. Casey Stoner an efficient third - but he will be alarmed at his relative lack of pace. Fourth place for the amazing Jorge Lorenzo.

22/22 3.4 seconds the margin for Valentino Rossi, who is on to his final lap...

21/22 Pedrosa is losing time hand over fist, but he has enough of a gap over Stoner to be relatively safe. Is he easing off to conserve fuel?

20/22 Rossi takes a second out of Pedrosa on lap 19 and that is surely the decisive move. The Spaniard is struggling for grip and this will surely be Rossi's first win of the year.

19/22 Hayden is wheel-to-wheel with Dovizioso and looks set to take sixth - he does indeed. The old guard are fighting back this weekend.

19/22 Another fastest lap by Rossi, who is slowly extending his lead. Almost a second in it now. 1:59.273 his latest track record.

18/22 Edwards runs wide and loses seventh place to Nicky Hayden. He just manages to hold off Loris Capirossi though.

18/22 Fastest lap for Rossi, 1:59.3. He is doing everything to lose Pedrosa and has a mini-cushion of around half a second.

17/22 Toseland has fallen over five seconds behind 11th-placed Nakano. Something is amiss. Let's hope he can hold off Sylvain Guintoli.

16/22 Rossi's lead is STILL only a quarter of a second over Pedrosa despite the Yamaha's speed advantage. The only man not involved in a dice is Casey Stoner who is riding a rather lonely third place for Ducati.

16/22 Lorenzo back into fourth. Amazing courage and bravery from the rookie, who nudges past Marco Melandri - but this battle is far from over.

15/22 Pedrosa is a persistent little devil, and Valentino Rossi just can't shake him! This will go right to the wire. Brilliant.

15/22 A stunning battle for fourth is developing, with just a couple of seconds covering Melandri, Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Hayden and Edwards.

14/22 Disastrous performance so far for James Toseland, who loses another place and falls to 12th behind Toni Elias.

13/22 Rossi's 1:59.6 is the fastest lap of the race, and just was we are writing Stoner off he sets a personal best. He is a couple of seconds clear in third.

12/22 Rossi's lead might only be two-thirds of a second but that could be decisive. Pedrosa can no longer get a decent tow down the straight and his lack of top speed could cost him here.

12/22 Toby and Julian on the TV have quite rightly pointed out that you would expect Ducati to perform better on what is now a dry track. As it is, Stoner lies eight seconds behind the leaders.

11/22 Toseland drop another place behind Shinya Nakano to 11th. And Nicky Hayden has fallen to seventh behind Dovizioso and Edwards.

11/22 Rossi and Pedrosa both go under two minutes, Pedrosa's 1:59.7 the fastest lap of the race - a lap record in fact. Phenomenal riding from this pair.

10/22 James Toseland is losing touch a little in 10th place. The Briton has never raced this circuit before and is struggling a little. But Edwards is showing that Tech3 Yamaha have the pace...

9/22 Rossi leads Pedrosa by a quarter of a second and these two have left the rest of the field for dead.

9/22 Melandri is now past Hayden into fourth and is gunning down his team-mate Casey Stoner! Brilliant.

8/22 Great stuff from Marco Melandri, who has had an awful year but now overtakes Dovizioso to go fifth.

8/22 Out goes Chris Vermeulen - his clutch has gone and it's surely the end of his race.

7/22 Colin Edwards goes straight on and comes back behind Marco Melandri in seventh. What a blunder...

7/22 The Yamaha of Rossi certainly seems top be outperforming the Honda. More straightline speed and also looking smoother through the corners.

6/22 Rossi has got the bit between his teeth and is right on the rear wheel of Dani Pedrosa. These two about a second ahead of the pack. Great stuff from the great Valentino Rossi - who leads!!

5/22 The lap times are right down to just over two minutes. This track is almost completely dry. James Toseland down in 10th now but it is so close all is not lost...

4/22 Pedrosa still leads but Rossi takes three tenths out of him and sets the fastest lap so far. So much happening here! Hayden is fifth but closing on Stoner.

3/22 It is no less exciting further back, with sixth-placed Jorge Lorenzo holding up the men behind him - that's Capirossi, Vermeulen and Toseland!

2/22 Amazing dicing at the front!! Edwards, Rossi and Stoner ALL run wide and Pedrosa takes advantage!! The Spaniard leads. Great racing.

2/22 Great stuff from Edwards - almost four abreast now - Edwards, Stoner, Rossi and Pedrosa!

1/22 GOOOO!!! Stoner is first to turn into the corner but Colin Edwards regains the lead. Stoner second and Rossi third.

- The hobbling Lorenzo can't get going on the warm-up lap and has to be bump started. He had an horrific crash on Friday morning and is riding with a broken ankle.

- Starting grid: 1-Colin Edwards, 2-Valentino Rossi, 3-Casey Stoner, 4-Jorge Lorenzo, 5-Dani Pedrosa, 6-Loris Capirossi, 7-James Toseland, 8-Chris Vermeulen, 9-Randy De Puniet, 10-Nicky Hayden.

- Welcome to LIVE coverage of the MotoGP race from China! We have full lap-by-lap commentary from 8am UK time!