Jorge Lorenzo went on to win the 2009 championship, his first. Valentino Rossi has won 7. Lorenzo earned it riding like that, head to head with the best racer of the modern Grand Prix era. Rossi was the last 500GP champion. Nicky Hayden was the only other rider to win the original MotoGP formula, on 990CC 4 strokes. Then they switched to 800 CC for safety, which only increased corner speed, and top speed went up anyway. Now we are back to 990's, but with electronics galore, so it just ain't the same.
World Superbike is my current favorite road series. They are thinking of adding a couple of endurance rounds, like 3 hour races. That would be awesome.
That being said, the AMA Superbike race I watched a while ago was the best in YEARS!