Sachsenring is a truly fantastic circuit. It's a brilliant layout with hills and everything, and has been pretty good in recent years for turning up surprises as well as delivering some genuinely exciting racing. It's in a delightful area of Germany, supported by a local administration that seems to recognise the value of having a top flight motorsports facility in the area, rather than some other regions who are happy to see their local circuits wither and die. Sorry, I'll get off my soap box. There's not a huge amount I can say about the circuit that hasn't been said already, to be honest, so let's just get on with the report.

Practice, just for once, wasn't completely dominated by Casey Stoner. or, indeed, by anyone else. marco Simoncelli took the top step in the first couple of sessions, tailed in the first by Stoner and Lorenzo, and in the second by Lorenzo and Pedrosa. The little Spaniard seems to be fully recovered now, which is good news, and the time off doesn't appear to have dented his will to win. The third and final session was topped by Lorenzo from Pedrosa and Simoncelli, with Stoner fourth. Valentino Rossi's miserable season continued with the multiple champion unable to get any better than twelfth, though Hayden did make brief foray toward the top on the other factory Ducati. One thing that did happen in practice, though, was crashes. Lots of crashes. There's one particular corner where the track drops away, gets bumpy and goes right all at the same time. It's fast and pretty exciting normally, but this weekend a combination of a headwind and variable track temperatures made it rather more exciting than a few riders would have liked. Valentino Rossi, Marco Simoncelli, Karel Abraham (twice), Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso and Hector Barbera all explored the gravel trap, Rossi picking up a nasty flesh injury on the inside of his elbow that essentially exposed the muscle, as well as bashing his previously injured shoulder. Happily it didn't seem to cause him any lasting problems, though.

Qualifying saw the ever improving Suzuki/Bautista pairing hit the top a couple of times, along with Rossi, Hayden, de Puniet and Dovzioso. Some of whom you'd expect to be there or thereabouts. But ultimately, the sesison boiled down to a slugging match between Stoner...and Stoner actually. The last three fastest times were all the young Australian beating his previous pole time. Jorge Lorenzo got in there for a while, but the result was rather predictable. Stoner took pole by a quarter of a second from Dani Pedrosa, pushing Jorge Lorenzo back into third, a tenth of a second behind his compatriot. Heading the second row, Marco Simoncelli led Ben Spies from Andrea Dovizioso. And on the third row, Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden lined up ahead of Randy de Puniet, with Alvaro Bautista, Hector Barbera and Cal Crutchlow making up the fourth row. Ross qualified sixteenth - second from last. Which was pretty strange, though perhaps not when we also consider that he's currently without Jerry Burgess who is at home in Australia dealing with family matters.

Warmup was notable for Alvaro Bautista going even quicker than he had in qualifying. Which isn't necessarily a good idea on worn tyres, though it is impressive right up until the inevitable huge crash. The likeable young Spaniard walked away from it unharmed, and he certainly seems to have got his confidence back. Other than that, Casey Stoner was quickest from Lorenzo and Pedrosa, with Bautista fourth ahead of Simoncelli. It's been a while since we've had this much confidence in a Suzuki in MotoGP, and it's nice to see the once great name back at the sharp end.

So, on to the race itself. it should come as no surprise to read that Dani Pedrosa got off the line first, followed by Stoner. But Lorenzo wa having none of it, and went around the outside on the first corner, nearly getitng the lead but settling for second as he tucked in front of Stoner. Behind the Australian, Dovizioso was very close indeed, Simoncelli behind him and then Ben Spies. But that wasn't going to last, as Lorenzo barged past Pedrosa to take the lead while further back Dovizioso stuffed it down inside Stoner to take third. Actually that's not fair - both passes were clean and fair, but left no real opportunity for a comeback. A couple of laps later and Dovi did the same to Pedrosa, making him the fastest Honda out there. By the end of lap three it was Lorenzo leading Dovizioso from Pedrosa, Stoner and Simoncelli, with Spies and Hayden behind. But nobody was making the break - from Lorenzo to Simoncelli was under three quarters of a second, with Spies just half a second behind.

Another couple of laps broke the field up and gave us three distinct and really hard races that went on until the chequered flag. At the front, Lorenzo and the three factory Hondas were fighting tooth and nail, with certainly the Hondas regularly swapping places and the gap across the whole group never getting above a second. In the middle of the field we had Edwards, Bautista, Hayden and Rossi fighting for seventh. And then as things developed, Dovizioso dropped off the front to join Simoncelli and Spies in the middle fight.

For the first time in far too long this was a genuinely exciting MotoGP. Nobody made the break and cleared off, there was lots of overtaking and seriously close racing and I was on the edge of my seat. Up at the front it looked as though Lorenzo was going to take the win up until the last few laps. Pedrosa, who had been threatening for a while, came through on the inside just before the climb back up to the start/finish in a beautfully executed pass, and pushed really hard to make the break. But it didn't happen. Stoner took advantage of a mistake by the world champion to slip past and then Lorenzo was third. But on the penultimate lap he got back past, too late to catch pedrosa though who had taken full advantage of both a clear track and having no need to nurse his tyres any more to really put the hammer down and make a bit of a gap. Behind them, Dovizioso was passed by Simoncelli in a straight drag race. The fight back slowed both of them and dropped them off the lead group, enabling Spies to close in and make anothe rthree way fight. This one really did go all the way to the wire, with Simoncelli making an audacious lunge for fourth that actually worked for a while but left him running wide and ultimately left the door open for the opportunist Spies as well. And behind them Rossi gave a graphic demonstration of how good he is and how little confidence he has in the front of the Ducati as he simply carved through the group in two corners before being unable to lose enough speed and get turned, running wide and leaving the door open for Hayden and Bautista. This happened several times before, on the final lap, Bautista made a brilliant surge and took both Ducati riders by surprise to steal seventh. Cal Crutchlow had a miserable time, spending most of the race in twelfth but finishing fourteenth after losing the front and running onto the kerb. Two points may be useful later, but the Coventry lad was desperately disappointed with the result, especially after the way things went at the beginning of the season.

Next week we go to Laguna Seca. Rossi has his crew chief back and always goes well there. But so does Lorenzo, and the Yamaha certainly seems to be working better. Nicky Hayden will be at home of course, as will Colin Edwards, and you can't underestimate the home crowd advantage. Ah yes, it might just be good...

Result

1 Dani Pedrosa (Honda)
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)
3 Casey Stoner (Honda)
4 Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)
5 Ben Spies (Yamaha)
6 Marco Simoncelli (Honda)
7 Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki)
8 Nicky Hayden (Ducati)
9 Valentino Rossi (Ducati)
10 Colin Edwards (Yamaha)

Championship Standing after nine rounds:

1 Casey Stoner 168
2 Jorge Lorenzo 153
3 Andrea Dovizioso 132
4 Valentino Rossi 98
5 Dani Pedrosa 94
6 Ben Spies 85
7 Nicky Hayden 85
8 Marco Simoncelli 60
9 Colin Edwards 59
10 Hiroshi Aoyama 56

SB