Brno. If Carlsberg made racetracks then they'd be based on Brno. Sorry if you're not in the UK and have no idea what I'm talking about. It's a long running ad campaign for a beer. Look it up on YouTube if you like. But there is no doubt in my mind that for sheer technical wonderfulness, Brno is the finest racetrack in the world. Not only that, but as a visitor the view is just sensational, pretty well everywhere. Sure, it's a long way and your choice of airlines serving the local airport is limited. But it's only a few hours drive from Vienna, and it's a good motorway. And everybody flies into Vienna - you could even come direct from the USA if you wanted. Especially as the distance to drive is similar to what you probably do to go to school each day. OK, so I'm exaggerating a bit. But you get the picture. I should add that at the moment it's still fairly inexpensive when you get there and that the people are some of the nicest and friendliest that you'll ever meet. Anywhere. The racing tends to be quite good too, though the length of the circuit can result in the pack getting a bit strung out. So rather than one frantic big race you tend to get several small races within the race instead - groups of two or three riders fighting tooth and nail for a place. It might be first, third, sixth or fifteenth, the fights are no less intense and the excitement no less real.

Unfortunately we lost Troy Corser in action on Friday. Having set a pretty respectable time in first practice, the Australian pushed just a little harder and highsided the BMW, which punished him severely for his mistake by catching him up as the pair slid across the track and beating him mercilessly until they both came to a halt. While happily examination in the medical centre showed that double World champion hadn't broken anything, he was extremely bruised and mildly concussed, and the only sensible decision was to rule himself out of the rest of the weekend, for his safety and that of the other riders.

While we're talking about free practice and qualifying, let's have a look at everything else that went on. First practice saw Fabrizio leading from Checa and Xaus, with Corser fourth. That was unusual, but Xaus' excellent performance stayed with him throughout the weekend. It was good to see haga back in the mix as well, fifth, while Max Biaggi was down in twelfth. But the real drama was taking place in the Suzuki pit, where Leon Haslam was having a truly torrid time as he and his team battled in vain to get the new Pirelli tyres working properly. The former championship leader finished the first session thirteenth, severely off the pace. The first qualifying session saw another shakeup as Haga punched through to take the lead from Cal Crutchlow and Fabrizio, with Checa a consistent fourth and Biaggi back up in fifth. As for Haslam? Seventeenth, improving to thirteenth in the second qualifying session. Well, at least he made Superpole.

Ah yes. Superpole. Of the final twenty who went through, the first session saw the early departure of home hero Jakub Smrz, Chris Vermeulen and Matteo Baiocco. Smrz, having swapped to an Aprilia for his home round (and the rest of the season) was struggling to get the bike working for him after a crash in practice set the team back a bit, while Vermeulen was still suffering with his injured knee. The second cut, which despite what the song says is really the deepest, saw Lanzi and Toseland both tied on time and the fastest not to go through. Behind them, Max Neukirchner and Tom Sykes sat ahead of Leons Camier and Haslam, while Haga crashed in the session and thus failed to get through. Bringing up the rear was Shakey Byrne, still suffering from the broken hand he sustained in testing at Imola when he got torpedoed by Leon Haslam in a freak accident.

And at the end of the third session, we had Cal Crutchlow on pole, again, ahead of Max Biaggi, Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus in his best performance of the season by far. Second row was headed by Sylvain Guintoli on the Suzuki from Luca Scassa, Fabrizio and Checa.

And then it was race day.

Warmup proved nothing except that Haga was fast and Haslam wasn't particularly. Better than Saturday, but nowhere near enough to close the gap on Biaggi, who appears unable to put a foot wrong. Crutchlow was second from an on form Xaus, with Biaggi fourth. Then it was the Brit pack - Toseland, Byrne, Rea, Camier, Haslam - with Fabrizio rounding out the top ten.

But we all know what warmup means. That's right - nothing.

They say that the bull stops when the flag drops. Well there aren't any flags to start races now, but the principle remains the same. It's the point when reputations and past performance mean nothing. And lights out for Race One saw BIaggi, Crutchlow and Reamake a mad dash for the first turn. And some fairly aggressive passing later it was Rea who took the lead from Biaggi, who had got the initial holeshot. Behind them, though, carnage was ensuing. Max Neukirchner lost the Honda on the entry to the first turn and took out both Smrz and Vermeulen, both of whom had started well, in a carbon copy of Laconi's 2006 skittling of Troy Bayliss. But with rather more severe consequences, as Vermeulen's already weakened knee let go completely and effectively ruled the deservedly popular Australian out of the rest of the weekend. And, it later transpired, the championship as well.

Up at the front, Jonathan Rea could do no wrong it seemed, as he turned in twenty perfect laps to maintain a comfortable lead over Biaggi - not so far as to make it boring but far enough that he wasn't about to get ambushed. Classy. Behind, though, it was a different matter as Crutchlow and Biaggi indulged in twenty laps of scrapping, finally decided in favour of the Italian in the last four laps.At one point, though, it looked as if things might really get upset as Ruben Xaus muscled the BMW up as high as third before being re-passed by Biaggi and, eventually, Guintoli and settling into a highly respectable fifth. Nori Haga got one of his customary lightning starts to end the first lap in sixth, an amazing achievement from his fourth row start. A three lap battle for fifth with Guintoli was decided in favour of the Frenchman and Haga remained sixth for the rest of the race. Luca Scassa, too, capitalised on his strong qualifying and was going well until a huge crash saw the likeable Italian in the Clinica Mobile with a broken ankle on lap five.

Leon Camier had a world of problems that saw him eventually retire the Aprilia on the sixth lap, while James Toseland battled through a chest infection, faulty electronics and tyre problems to get up to seventh from his twelfth place at the end of the first lap while Haslam managed to salvage something from a so far horrible weekend to take a hard eighth. Checa, after a promising start, went backwards to finish ninth, just ahead of Lorenzo Lanzi, while Fabrizio had a mechanical problem and retired.

Race two looked promising. And so it was. This time it was Ruben Xaus, Johnny Rea and Biaggi who got off the line first, while Crutchlow went backwards rapidly. James Toseland did even worse, bogging down on the start line and going into the first corner dead last. Astonishingly he climbed to twelfth by the end of the first lap, and was sixth just five laps later. Crutchlow, in the meantime, continued to drop back, pitting to change his rear tyre on lap seven. Interestingly, the tyre looked brand new - it hadn't scrubbed at all and so offered very little grip. A new tyre fitted, Crutchlow went back out and managed to salvage some points as well as setting the fastest lap of the race, leaving him and the team to rue what could have been.

Back up at the front Biaggi managed to pass Xaus to take second on lap three, going one better after several tries on lap seven. And behind, Xaus and Fabrizio were locked into a battle for the last podium spot, swapping positions a couple of times before Xaus, attempting to make a buffer for himself, overcooked it going into turn one and utterly destroyed the BMW, fortunately avoiding serious injury. Jakub Smrz's weekend didn't get any better, the Aprilia spinning the rear tyre on the rim and destroying any real grip. The Czech rider was forced to pit for safety and swap tyres, coming out last and using the rest of the race to gather data.

Nori Haga had started well, climbing to seventh on the first lap but then slowing his charge through the field and staying in fourth place until being passed by the on-form Toseland two laps from the end. This time the field was rather more spread out, with Biaggi ending the race in first place some four seconds clear of Rea, who himself was a yawning nine seconds clear of third placed Fabrizio. A few more laps might have seen Toseland on the podium as he was barely a couple of seconds behind Fabrizio and closing, while Haga was just over a second behind him in fifth. Then it was Checa and Guintoli, with Camier leading the rest of the Brits home, followed by Shakey Byrne and Leon Haslam in a disappointing tenth place.

So there we have it. One brilliant race, one still good but a little static toward the end. Biaggi has consolidated his lead and Haslam has been given a huge mountain to climb. But the next round is at Silverstone, and the home crowd must be worth fifty horsepower. Especially if you're still in with a shout at the title...

See you there.

Race One

1 Jonathan Rea (Honda)
2 Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
3 Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha)
4 Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)
5 Ruben Xaus (BMW
6 Nori Haga (Ducati)
7 James Toseland (Yamaha)
8 Leon Haslam (Suzuki)
9 Carlos Checa (Ducati)
10 Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati)

Race Two

1 Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
2 Jonathan Rea (Honda)
3 Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)
4 James Toseland
5 Nori Haga (Ducati)
6 Carlos Checa (Ducati)
7 Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)
8 Leon Camier (Aprilia)
9 Shane Byrne (Ducati)
10 Leon Haslam (Suzuki)

Championship Standing after nine rounds:

1 Max Biaggi 352
2 Leon Haslam 283
3 Jonathan Rea 203
4 Carlos Checa 189
5 Nori Haga 172
6 James Toseland 160
7 Troy Corser 149
8 Michel Fabrizio 147
9 Leon Camier 138
10 Cal Crutchlow 138

SB

PS Thanks to Claus Hermann from Power Pictures for stepping in and helping with photography when we weren't able to do it ourselves.