Moto GP / Trent Burton / 20 July 2009 / Leave a comment

This weekend the MotoGP circus heads to Donington Park for the 23rd and possibly last time. Trent Burton begins the build-up to Sunday's big race ...

Since 1987 the British Grand Prix has been held at Donnington Park but next year moves out as F1 supposedly comes to Donington. But that seems to change every other week. One thing is for certain though. For the next five years MotoGP will be at Silverstone. So what better time to take a look back at the highs and lows of our time at Donington Park and a brief early look ahead to this weekend's races.

The circuit itself has a love-hate relationship with most riders. Everyone loves the first part of the lap. MotoGP bikes pouring downhill through the Craner Curves is one of the great sights in motorsport and will be sorely missed. Less popular is the final sector, added in 1987 to bring it up to the required Grand Prix length. The tacked on stop-and-go section from the Foggy Esses down to Redgate not only makes set-up here difficult, but also tends to ruin the rest of the fast flowing circuit. It's a section few riders like.

However, the mixed layout has resulted in some of the most memorable moments in MotoGP history.

In 1988 Wayne Rainey took his career first win at Donington before going on to three world titles in the '90s. In 1992 an emotional Wayne Gardner announced his retirement on Friday before the '87 world champ went out and took his final career win on the Sunday.

One of the most replayed crashes of all time occurred in 1993 with the epic pile-up of Alex Barros and Kevin Schwantz and Mick Doohan in the Esses.

In 1998 Simon Crafar became only the third, and to date, last, New Zealander to win a premier class Grand Prix. Last year, Brit Scott Redding became the youngest ever winner of a Grand Prix when he took out the 125cc race. The first Brit to win a GP since the '70s. The further list of winners here reads like a proverbial whose who of Grand Prix racing. Schwantz, Doohan, Eddie Lawson, Anton Mang and Max Biaggi to name just a few.

And then in the year 2000 a young rookie took his career first premier class victory. So far he's only managed to rack up a mere 74 more. He was of course, Valentino Rossi.

And as Rossi returns to Donington this year he finds himself atop the championship table and a solid [1.36] favourite to take out his ninth title at year's end. But team-mate Jorge Lorenzo - [5.2] for the title - , Casey Stoner [11.0] and Dani Pedrosa [44.0] are all hot on his heels and coming back into some good form. All four of them have tasted victory here. Rossi a remarkable seven times to Lorenzo's one. Pedrosa and Stoner have two wins a piece here but more tellingly, the Australian has won comfortably for the last two years.

Hopes of a British winner will once again be in the 125cc class as, sadly, it's more likely that I'll win the MotoGP race than James Toseland. While Scott Redding's chances of a repeat victory don't look likely, Oxfordshire's Bradley Smith is having a great season and lies third in the championship currently on a price of [2.8]. He will be keen to avenge his DNF last weekend with a home win and has every chance of doing it with 100, 000 plus fans rooting for him trackside.

If you can't get along to say goodbye to Donington Park in person this weekend you can catch it all on Eurosport as normal with extended coverage on BBC 1 this weekend as well. I'll be at the track over the weekend to keep you up with all the latest and picking out the best value in the markets as the action takes place. It should be one hell of a send off.