of the race has the best chance of taking the championship into the bargain. No matter who stands on the top step in Valencia on Sunday, and whether Valentino Rossi or Nicky Hayden takes the title of MotoGP World Champion 2006, there is one clear winner

Standing on the cusp of a championship is a strangely perilous position. You see the title within your grasp, you can almost touch it, taste it, but you know you have just a little bit more work to do before it is finally yours. It should

GP Predictions:Pedrosa To Fail.It is said that 2007 will be the year of Dani Pedrosa. Most commentators believe that if he does not win the championship outright, then at the very least, he will push Rossi all the way to the wire. However, regarding Pedrosa

. So strong is Rossi at Donington that last year, he managed to take a hard-fought second place while riding with a broken wrist. Now he's healthy, he should be formidable.While Rossi is second in the championship standings, team mate Colin Edwards

as the location, and as spectacular as the track is, the men chasing the championship leader will face the Brno weekend with some trepidation. For after leaving the tracks where maneuverability was going to be key, and the agile Yamahas and Hondas would have

, it is impossible to keep confronting the risk of pain and injury, and push at the very limits of your motorcycle and yourself, just for the chance to stand on a box, holding a tawdry bauble, while a second-rate tune pours out of tinny speakers.It also takes passion

for the 2007 season horribly wrong.Neither Yamaha nor Michelin have made that mistake again this year. With Valentino Rossi leading the riders championship, Yamaha on top of the manufacturer's standings, and both the Fiat Yamaha and Tech 3 Yamaha teams

The Doctor deserted them. So, with so much to look forward to, what does the 2007 MotoGP world championship have in store?Less Is More The most talked about change to this year's championship is the reduction in capacity. When the reduction was announced

and humiliate the opposition into a soul-destroying annihilation of anyone standing in his way, what American race fans call "stinking up the race". It's not just the Bridgestones, as the next Bridgestone runner in the championship is Chris Vermeulen down in 4th

created a mathematical formula which perfectly encapsulates the relative importance of the points scored in each race.But the MotoGP championship, like all motorcycle racing, is more than just a statistical exercise. Though the number of points scored may