Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa arrive in Germany keeping the leadership.
In the 250cc overall standings Fonsi Nieto is second and Toni Elias third
The German Sachsenring will be hosting next weekend the ninth scoring round of the Motorcycle World Championship. After the penalty imposed on Valentino Rossi at the British Grand Prix, which set him back from first to third place of the podium, the current World Champion arrives in Germany with three victories so far and 34 points of advantage over Sete Gibernau, second in the Championship standings and 37 over Max Biaggi, third. Rossi now faces the challenge of clinching another victory in a circuit that already saw him winning last year, in order to increase the gap with regard to his closest rivals in the standings. Both Rossi and his team-mate, the North American Nicky Hayden, have spent some days at the Brno circuit, venue of the next race, the Czech GP, in order to test different settings for the race in August. Nicky Hayden, who finished eighth in Donington and is currently on tenth place in the overall standings, shows himself stronger on his bike in his MotoGP rookie year. He will be taking part in the Suzuka 8 Hours in August although his team-mate has yet to be appointed.
In the 250 GP, Fonsi Nieto arrives in Germany in high spirits after clinching his first season win at the British Grand Prix, boosting him up from fifth to second place in the overall standings, only 15 points behind the leader, Manuel Poggiali. Toni Elias, is third in the overall standings, 24 points behind the San Marino rider and ready to get a good result on the German track where he already managed to finish runner-up two seasons ago in the 125cc class. The Sachsenring seems to be an especially favourable circuit for the only Argentinean rider of the Championship, Sebastián Porto, who finished third last year and is currently eighth overall after the race in Donington. Héctor Faubel, eighteenth and Joan Olivé, twelfth carry on with their evolution and will have to continue with the good performance shown in the last races of this season.
In the 125 GP, Alberto Puigs pupil, Dani Pedrosa, keeps the leadership despite crashing in Donington and has an advantage of 26 points over the second, the German rider Steve Jenkner. Pablo Nieto, will have to get a good result on this circuit to improve his sixth overall place. The young Héctor Barberá, improved, thanks to his first ever win at the British Grand Prix, from eleventh to eighth place in the overall standings. After this Grand Prix, the World Championship will take a well-deserved break of two weeks and will be turning back to racing activity on August 17 in the Czech Republic.
