MotoGP: Ten World Champions To Race At Qatar

An article on motogp.com has pointed out that there will be no less than 10 riders on the MotoGP grid at Qatar who have won a motorcycling world championship.
While Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden and Kenny Roberts Jr have all won the top class title, it is perhaps the list of 250cc champs that will contain the ones to look out for on the new 800cc MotoGP machines.
The 250 champions are Rossi, Pedrosa, Capirossi, Melandri and Olivier Jacque. Although OJ is struggling to come back up to speed and Marco is struggling to find any kind of consistency, The Doctor, Dani and Capirex will all surely be fighting for race wins on a regular basis.
Coming from the production-based world championships, the main contender is Colin Edwards. The Texan Tornado has two World Superbike titles under his belt, and although this might not be the best preparation for the new MotoGP bikes, Edwards has altered his riding style and has been impressive in testing.
There will be two World Supersport champions on the grid, both Australians. Chris Vermeulen and Andrew Pitt are the pair who have won the WSS title. With the Suzukis running well in testing, Vermeulen could well steal his first MotoGP win this year. Keep an eye on him at Laguna Seca in particular. Andrew Pitt will merely be hoping to develop the dog-slow Ilmor bike and not finish last, but his world title shows that he has the guts to battle it out for a whole season of racing.