Muhammed Ali was arguably sports greatest showman. He was also, arguably, one of the most arrogant! But because he knew how to work a TV audience and the media – understanding the “show”, with his wit, humor and sharp tongue – people loved him. Arrogance and humiliation is a fine line to tread, but with an ego as big as his mouth, the “Greatest” pulled it off with dazzling skills in the ring – the sort of show and boxing brilliance that we may never witness again.

Enter into the MotoGP ring Jorge Lorenzo. Sunday at Motegi, Lorenzo turned the championship on its head before the dust and sand barely settled following the Casey Stoner-show at Qatar. Going toe-to-toe with teammate Valentino Rossi, Ducati’s Stoner and surprise performer Dani Pedrosa, Jorge appeared to be punching above his weight after playing down his chances early this year with the media saying, “Valentino is the now and I am the future.”

All of this after starting his rookie MotoGP season last year with an explosion: Pole-3rd, Pole-2nd, Pole-1st in the first three rounds – it was probably the most impressive start in blue-ribbon class history. But in Round 4 in China, the 2008 wheels properly fell off. A huge high-side, which nearly showed up on air-traffic control, launched Lorenzo into orbit, bringing him back down to earth with more than a bump, breaking one ankle and damaging the other. Amazingly he rode to another podium there after being carried onto the bike. But another big crash at his home Catalunya round in June knocked him out, missing the race. Following this was another massive high-side at Laguna on the opening lap, taking the wind out of his sails for good – his rookie Championship charge crumbled.

So back to Sunday’s race at the Honda-owned and -built Twin-Ring Motegi in Japan. “Gorgeous George” simply rode away from his rivals. After some early entertaining exchanges with defending World Champ Rossi and rapidly-recovering Pedrosa, Lorenzo pulled away effortlessly to register his second MotoGP win.

The key to Jorge’s victory was 45 minutes on Friday afternoon. It was the only dry practice session of all weekend. It rained so heavily on Saturday Motegi Qualifying was cancelled. Déjà vu. Morning warm-up on raceday was extended, hoping some valuable lost dry set-up time could be clawed back. But it rained once again. So everybody went into the race a little blind and gambling on tires and settings. It was Lorenzo who got his M1 nearest to the sweet spot. Rossi had gone a bit further into more complex settings and ideas and simply ran out of time. When Jorge caught Vale on Lap 8 he simply swept by with Rossi unable to put up any great fight and that was that.

Lorenzo’s victory lap celebrations were also less extravagant then his rookie race win show last year at Estoril. Rather than the full on robotics and planting of the Lorenzo Land flag in the kitty litter there, he continued to dilute his actions by collecting the flag and calmly planting. A bit less polished was what followed after, with Jorge not being able to restart his bike having to push it back to parc ferme. Maybe he was still taking in what he had achieved, not expecting to have adapted to his switch to the one-tire-make Bridgestones so quickly.

Rossi’s crew were certainly in shock. They really had planned to try and break Stoner from the start, as Casey was struggling with brakes that juddered early on, unable to feel safely where the limit was. Vale was unflustered, at least in public, and said he had enjoyed the fight while it had lasted. But as I followed Rossi’s closest confidents – Davide Brivio, Uccio and Max – back to the paddock clutching his runners up trophy, helmet and gloves, there was hardly a word said between them – stunned at what they had witnessed and maybe a little worried that they were now heading to Lorenzo Land proper next weekend at Jerez.

The “show” will now lead the Championship back to his home race in Jerez Spain this coming weekend. Now that the Championship fuse has just been lit, Lorenzo will want to keep the momentum flowing.

Jerez is Rossi’s favorite track, Mugello aside, and Pedrosa will want to defend his win there from last year. Stoner will want to get back in the mix after driving away from there a month ago in a brand new BMW for claiming the fastest lap at the official IRTA preseason test. This has been Ducati’s bogey track, which they now seemingly nailed with the introduction of the new carbon-framed Desmoscedici GP09. But do any of them have anything for the “show” or will they all be watching the Spaniard continue to inflate his ego?

What a great way to stage MotoGP’s return to Europe and Spain. One could almost believe Lorenzo had written the script himself!