motorcycle racing is all about: off-track mayhem and on-track action, all under a hot southern sun. The Phoney War is over, and battle is about to be joined in full force. Roll on Sunday.Read more of David Emmett's articles over on MotoGPMatters.com

bit short on top speed. With two long straights to contend with, the engine will be pushed to its limit to keep up, creating problems with both speed and reliability. Pedrosa has already won here, getting his maiden victory in MotoGP back in 2006

fitted with a combustion engine. From the little Piaggio Ape three-wheeler with the open megaphone exhaust (no good for horsepower on a small capacity two-stroke engine, but oh, the noise!) to brand new Honda Fireblades being bounced off the rev limiter

places on the planet where hardcore speed freaks can get a legal hit of their personal high. Although at least 25% of the Autobahn system does actually have enforceable speed limits in place, and many of the unlimited stretches of road have so much

to the limit, yet now you have to fling the bike over again right to get the tight line into the hairpin, ready for the fast and long lefts which follow. The whole section is crucial to a fast lap, yet danger beckons at almost every yard. Go too slow, and you

, passing and riding at, and even beyond the limit, leaving spectators with their hearts in their mouths for lap after breathless lap. What everyone feared was another brutal, Doohanesque display of dominance by Casey Stoner, in which he takes a few laps

Rossi made a rare error. No one would contest the fairness of the result, with Casey Stoner withstanding The Doctor's pressure to take a convincing, if not quite commanding, victory, Rossi riding to the very limit, and just beyond, of both his machinery

each corner, you need to have complete confidence in your own ability to find the very limit of grip and in your bike to respond predictably and precisely. Any hesitation, even the merest hint of uncertainty, and you lose precious tenths and hundredths

than the rest to give him the run into the corner, but Melandri found that there are limits even to his astonishing ability on the brakes, running very wide for Turn 1, and out of contention. Loris Capirossi, on the other hand, held the inside line

the lead, or at least limited the damage, Stoner would just turn the screw up another notch, and extend his lead again. Though Casey Stoner had the upper hand, he wasn't handing out the kind of beating he had last year, but could only apply a form