. The Autobahn has come to signify more than just the two or more grade-separated lanes of tarmac that form the backbone of Germany's transport network. Despite its troubled history, the German Autobahn has attained an almost mythological status, one of the few

Assen's transformation from public roads to closed racetrack was a long process of sections being removed piece by piece, in a form of death by a thousand cuts, the Sachsenring sprang fully-formed from the brow of the ADAC, the German automobile

weekend, suffering partly from the difficulty of finding a setup in changeable weather, and partly just from nerves. Two crashes in the final minutes of qualifying left Toseland down in 16th on the grid, and with it all to do. To make matters worse

and strategy are almost a signature, a little piece of racing DNA, and speaks both of their ability and of their racing heritage.Dani Pedrosa, for example, wants to get an early lead then settle into a fast rhythm, lapping as precisely and perfectly as he can

.Assen and Astroturf are two subjects which Colin Edwards is an expert on. Edwards loves the Dutch track, and has always raced well here, both in MotoGP, and in his World Superbike days. He has long been an expert on how to get the best out of Assen. His expertise

's fear of protests inside the country has turned what used to be a bureaucratic headache into a complete nightmare.Once through China's Kafkaesque customs procedures, things don't improve much. The layout of the track is absolutely dire: Two vast

of their riders on hard rain tires in Germany, gambling on a drying track which never arrived, we were back at square one. Once again, conversations about MotoGP were all about tires, and not about riders. Turning PointThen came Laguna Seca. At Laguna, two things

for Turn 11. If you make it through here in one piece, it's back on the gas and changing up through the gears, bracing yourself once again to face the fearsome Turn 1. You've barely had time to draw breath, and you're already getting ready to work your way

off to the first corner a good deal more gingerly than usual, hoping to avoid disaster in the first turn.The difference showed. The two fastest starters on the grid sat on the front row, Dani Pedrosa next to pole sitter Casey Stoner, but it was Colin

connected by standard left-right combinations, and looks more like a piece from a jigsaw puzzle than a racetrack. And yet, once you see it in the flesh, your opinion changes instantly. Suddenly, the elevation changes caused by the rolling Czech countryside