the limit, and good enough to keep it there?When you add soaking conditions to a tight and technical track like the Sachsenring, the truth of this axiom becomes even more obvious. With no straights to speak of, and with the bikes spending much of their time

.SlowhandHow ironic, then, that the German MotoGP round should take place at the Sachsenring, a circuit at which the world's fastest racing motorcycles never reach anywhere near their maximum speed - even after last year's capacity reduction to 800cc. Indeed, so

It is perhaps an interesting irony that the MotoGP circus moves from one former street circuit to another this weekend, leaving the fast, flat sweeping turns of Assen behind to visit the tight, tortuous turns of the Sachsenring circuit. But where

and followers who, believing they can discern a pattern in the sands of the past, make bold predictions about the events of the weekend to come. At the Sachsenring, the pundits were clear: the race would be incredibly close, as it has been at nearly every race

couple of races. Coming off two podiums in a row, and with team mate Dani Pedrosa having taken the win at the Sachsenring last weekend, Hayden has to be a firm favorite to take a third straight victory here. For Honda built the RC212V to suit tracks like

the race at the Sachsenring, cracking bones in his ankle and left hand. More importantly, he went from leading the championship to trailing Valentino Rossi by 16 points, with Casey Stoner breathing down his neck. And so, after treatment by Dr Costa

at the second round at Jerez, but it will be very, very close. By the time we get to the Sachsenring in Germany, it will be all over. I predict that the lap record at the Sachsenring will be shattered in July, and broken at 5 of the remaining 7 tracks

that if Honda have found a little more power, and can be persuaded to tone down the electronics, he can start to put on the kind of worthy defense of his title we saw glimpses of at Assen and the Sachsenring.As for the remainder of the Honda teams

at the Sachsenring, Dani Pedrosa has had a very difficult season. He started the year as the odds on favorite to challenge Valentino Rossi for the title, but the Honda RC212V's surprising lack of performance coupled with Michelin's failure to adapt to the new tire

Australian wunderkind took 4/10ths out of Pedrosa. If Pedrosa wanted to repeat his Sachsenring performance, he had to act quickly.But first, he would have to fend off Chris Vermeulen. The Rizla Suzuki rider had slowly been reeling in Pedrosa turn by turn