, with the margin of victory under a second in all but two of the nine premier class races held here so far, the difference within 1/10th of a second at a couple of those races. For the track really rewards guts, determination, and a willingness to stuff the bike

at the facts, it's hard to fault them. Rossi has won here when he has been off form and on awful bikes. He won in 2006, when still suffering with terrible chatter in his 990cc M1, and he won in 2007, when at least 10 horsepower down on the mighty Ducatis

2/10ths more out of Stoner, and close the gap to 9/10ths of a second, almost within striking range. Stoner and Vermeulen were clearly the fastest men on the track, both riding lap after lap in the 1'34s, but something had to give. On lap 12

Biaggi's lap record from 2005, set on a 990cc Honda RC211V, by 0.08 of a second. But Rossi's new record would not stand long: 0.1 of a second later, Casey Stoner was 0.03 faster still, claiming a new lap record at 1'50.003, 0.114 quicker than Biaggi's old

without a win for 9 races, their longest streak since 1990. Honda are having their worst season for nearly 20 years, and if things don't start looking up, it could be their worst season ever.The next Honda home was Marco Melandri in 10th, riding another

both inside and outside passes viable options into Turn 1. Then, there's the section around the back straight: Two 180 degree turns, too wide to be hairpins, connected by a straight with a blindingly fast left-hand kink. If you need to get past

. After all, it is easily within the reach of a World Superbike, costing upwards of 200,000 euros, and so factories - and more importantly, privateers - would be free to explore other ways of decreasing lap times.The danger of limiting top speed

th. With almost every lap, Hayden got closer, running lap after lap of incredible times, culminating in a new lap record of 1'37.493 on lap 13, fully 4/10ths of a second faster than the previous record, set on a bigger, more powerful bike. In just 5

a potential 3 points in the championship. But Rossi's day was about to get worse: having chosen a hard rain tire, gambling that the rain would be light, his lap times kept slipping, from 1'50s on laps 16, 17 and 18, down to 1'52 by lap 21, 1'55

, Stoner upped the pace once again, taking 3/10ths a lap out of Pedrosa, taking his lead to 5.5 seconds by lap 15. Then Stoner struck the fatal blow. His pace undiminished, running consistent laps in the high 1'36s and low 1'37s, the Australian stretched