Steve Parrish's MotoGP column

By Steve Parrish BBC motorbikes commentator

Dani Pedrosa's Honda hasn't been competitive and he feels it isn't as good as it should be Steve Parrish

We move onto Le Mans for the fifth race of an intriguing MotoGP season.

Casey Stoner is 15 points clear of the field and I don't think many people would have predicted that at the start of the season.

The man many people thought would be in Stoner's place at the top of the leaderboard is Honda rider Dani Pedrosa.

But the young Spaniard has certainly not pulled up any trees yet this season and is starting to grumble about the performance of his bike.

It hasn't really been competitive yet and he feels it isn't as good as it should be.

Everyone at Honda is in a bit of tailspin at the moment to get it sorted.

They played a big part in wanting the new 800cc bikes and probably started work on developing theirs before everyone else.

But I feel that maybe they underestimated the competition and just how quickly the other teams would get their bikes in shape.

Le Mans MotoGP Live: Qualifying, Saturday, BBCi, 1245 Race live, Sunday, BBC Two, 1230 MotoGP on the BBC

The Ducatis and even the Suzukis are as good as Honda, meaning Honda have lost the advantage they previously held over them.

But the track at Le Mans should bring Pedrosa back into the thick of things as it lacks the long straights of Shanghai.

As a result, horsepower will not make as massive a difference in France as it did in China as the circuit is quite stop/start.

This means Stoner's Ducati won't get a chance to stretch its legs as much, so Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi will be pushing towards the front.

Rossi will be glad to be back at a track that suits his bike.

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He knew Shanghai was going to be tough and it was a bit of a fire-fighting exercise for him.

He did everything possible with what he had underneath him and his second place finish was impressive.

1. Rossi 2. Pedrosa 3. Stoner

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North West 200

Straight after our coverage from Le Mans we have comprehensive highlights from the North West 200 in Northern Ireland.

NW200 Sunday, BBC Two and BBC Sport website, 1430-1600 NW200 on the BBC

The road race between Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush is a massive, massive event that really captures the imagination.

It's Ireland's biggest outdoor event and attracted 140,000 spectators, completely grid-locking the roads for hours after it finished.

The Northern Irish have always loved their motorcycling and this event just gets bigger and bigger every year.

It's hard to understand but motorcycling is on a par with football and there is a parity in popularity between the two.

If you put motorcycling on TV it gets just the same viewers as a football match would.

As a global event, the NW200 is still not as well known as the Isle of Man TT, but with the exposure and crowds it is getting I can see that changing in the years to come.