. And with Pedrosa's poor showing in the rain at Phillip Island putting him out of contention for the title in all but the most mathematical sense, it seemed like a no-brainer that Pedrosa would do what he needed to to assist Hayden's title challenge. Team Manager

of the field, the engineers from team green having found an extra 10 horsepower to power the young Frenchman into contention. After the frenetic final fifteen minutes of qualifying had finished not a word was being spoken about the Ducatis, as the world

. But HRC will surely be fixing those issues, and once they are fixed, Hayden could be back in contention.Though he does not have Hayden's background in dirt track, Hayden's team mate Dani Pedrosa does have proven ability at the track. Pedrosa romped away

confidence in the front-end feel, then Super Shinya could get back in contention. Nakano is another rider who excels at holding corner speed, and his technical style should suit the new 800s perfectly. If the bike and the tires start to gell, then Nakano

into everyone's favorite passing spot, Turn 12.Elias was not content to follow for long, though. After passing Capirossi, Terrible Toni chased The Doctor down, edging ever closer to his back wheel. At the end of the fast back section, Elias made his move

at the wheels by an invisible bond, but the battle had abated, each side content to sit for a lap and plan their next attack. They did not wait long. As the trio crossed the line to embark on lap 22, Rossi once again slid out of Stoner's draft to outbrake

this weekend. His spectacular pass on Stoner on the brakes was the Melandri of old; If Macio could do this, the Hondas were surely back in contention.With Pedrosa creating a sliver of empty space between himself and Melandri, things were starting to bunch up

rejoined, but were out of contention after just a couple of hundred yards. Hopkins entered the pits for new controls, rejoining the race already 3 laps down, but with no chance of points, despite being the 3rd fastest bike on the track, while Hayden

, was only 4th on the grid, but had managed a couple of very quick laps, and seemed content with his race setup. With little time for testing, it looked like success in the race could be down to an educated - and lucky - guess on race tires. Rocket Launcher

, Rossi's help came from Nicky Hayden's Repsol Honda team mate, when Dani Pedrosa attempted an incomprehensibly optimistic pass up the inside of Hayden, taking the then championship leader out of the race, and seemingly out of contention for the title