Sachsenring

well that was quick turn around in fortunes!

fwiw i'm glad the championship is back on kilter... and Stoner's off was right up there with Laguna, probably worse considering there was no where near as much pressure to get the win...

the writing was on the wall with Pedrosa's pass, let alone the FL on his second last lap... Stoner shouldve taken second and congratulated Dani at the end of the race for an awesome drive... instead he was still trying to generate the extremely unlikely to impossible...

it just as easily be Pedrosa's season this year... Honda are slowly getting grips it seems and starting to push on, and there might be a tyre change coming which could suit them even more...

going to be a great championship now though

whether its Pedrosa, Lorenzo or Stoner at the end, whoever wins is going to earn it and it'll be awesome!

I actually like the fact that Stoner tried for the win and didn't settle for second. He seems to be on a mission to try and win each race rather than the championship, and his brutal style is awesome to watch. Did you see how many times he was already sliding the front before he went down?! But at Sachsenring Pedrosa is king! He has a smoother style which goes well there, and it seems to be his favourite track.

A highly enjoyable event. It looked like everyone pushed hard the entire race.

yeah, i grant you that, Hen... still, it was pretty stupid... not many other top runners have binded it as much in those circumstances... it comes across as a bit arrogant aswell tbh... Pedrosa did the perfect race, but Stoner wasnt going to bested by him, or so it seemed.

well, it was stupid enough that i'm glad he binned it, just for the sake of some close championship battles for the rest of the season, not least that Lorenzo deserves to be way out front at this stage...

i still reckon Honda could be edging away from Yamaha now, i could be wrong... and if so, i reckon it might help Pedrosa move the thing around more than it helps Stoner with his arm pump and front end complaints... could be Pedrosa's year

I would think that one thing really pushing Pedrosa is to keep his ride for next year. There seems no doubt that Marquez will be joining HRC next year taking Stoners bike, and even if Repsol remains the title sponsor it is unlikely they will have two Spanish riders in the team. Pedrosa has had his chance for so long, and not made it yet, which leads me to believe that unless he wins the title he will not be on the HRC bike next year.

The rumour mill is now running with the story that it will in fact be Rossi who will take the second Honda. He will get a two year contract to serve as mentor for Marquez, and possibly snatching the title for Honda in 2013. To me it seems more like a marketing person's dream, as Rossi ending his career with a title in 2013, then following up to coach Marquez the young kid to his first title in 2014, and finally retiring on a Honda would provide branding sales opportunities to Honda worth huge amounts! Then again, stranger things have happened...

For all its worth, I still hate Lorenzo but the way he is riding this year he so deserves the title.

I suppose I should read the news before I write about rumours! On 12 July HRC announced that they have signed Marquez and Pedrosa for two years, so no fairytale ending for Rossi.

Oh, and Pedrosa then still has a few more chances to get a title...