More:  Rossi nears record 3,000 points

Race Results
Yet another unbelievable ride by Rossi!  Just seven days after Italy won the football World Cup with a dramatic victory against France in Berlin, Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi produced an equally stunning performance to seal another success for his country on German soil thanks to a remarkable MotoGP win at the Sachsenring circuit near Dresden.

Starting from the fourth row and tenth place on the grid after struggling to find the right set-up for his YZR-M1 machine in practice, the odds were stacked heavily against Rossi as he aimed to close the gap on series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) with another win. However, the reigning World Champion again confounded all the predictions with his superb skill and dogged determination.

Already shifted up one place on the grid from his qualifying position of eleventh after Casey Stoner (Honda) was ruled out of the race through injury, Rossi continued to make his way forward as soon as the red lights were out, passing four riders by the end of the first lap to immediately get in contact with the lead group.

After picking off Kenny Roberts (Team KR) and Makoto Tamada (Honda), Rossi set about the lead group of Hayden, Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and Marco Melandri (Honda) and by lap 13 of 30 he was in front.  The Italian held on to a slim lead for all but one of the remaining laps, when Melandri made one of his many attacks stick, before holding off a barrage of attacks from all three rivals in a dramatic final corner to seal his fourth win of the season.

Whilst Rossi was able to rescue a dismal situation in practice, unfortunately the same could not be said for his team-mate Colin Edwards, who was unable to make any further progress with his bike setting in the morning warm-up and struggled to eleventh place.

Valentino Rossi (1st; 41'49.248):  "That was an unbelievable race for me and my team.  The first thing I have to say is 'sorry' to my M1 because last night was the first time in our relationship that I ever doubted her!  But she was true to me once again and for this I owe a huge thank you to Jeremy and all my mechanics and engineers.  Last night I didn't think I could win this race but we made a change in the morning warm-up and then again before the race in the afternoon and today my M1 flew.  In some parts of the track it was very, very fast."

"We also did a great job together with Michelin and at the start I realized that my rhythm was good enough to battle for the win.  Once I got to the front I knew I was probably two or three tenths faster than the other guys but it wasn't enough to escape and I had to battle with Dani, Nicky and Marco - each one was a great fight.  Marco was so strong at the end of the race and I have to give my big congratulations to him, but thankfully I got the right line in the last corner and I was able to win.  Italy became World Champions in the football last weekend and I won today; Germany is a good country for us!"

Davide Brivio, Camel Yamaha's Team Director said that "Valentino was unbelievable today, fantastic. This was a very important victory for the championship because we've collected a lot of points but more than that it is a big psychological boost to win a fight in this way.  This victory is a fruit of the hard work from the engineers, the team and Valentino - we have a great group of people here and they never give up. We always try to win races and today Valentino made it possible."

Qualifying
Dani Pedrosa qualified first, with Nicky Hayden third, while Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both face an uphill battle in tomorrow's German Grand Prix after struggling to come to terms with the undulating demands of the Sachsenring circuit in the final free practice and qualifying session today.

Neither Rossi or Edwards were able to find an adequate setting for the YZR-M1 in yesterday's opening sessions and despite making progress today they did not take the necessary steps forward required to make a challenge for the front row of the grid, which is headed by Dani Pedrosa (Honda) for the second successive race.

As the action got underway below clear blue skies and pleasant summer temperatures of 22ºC, Rossi's main difficulty was balancing the intense force exerted on the front end of the bike at this circuit, a problem exacerbated by the extra rear grip offered by the softer qualifying tires.

Whilst the Italian is hopeful of working on a solution with his team overnight, Edwards is less optimistic having been unable to exactly pinpoint the root of his problems and leaving only tomorrow's 20-minute warm-up to clarify an adequate set-up and tire choice for the race.

Rossi will aim to make as much progress as possible early in the race as he starts from the fourth row in eleventh spot whilst Edwards has an even bigger challenge ahead as he looks to remount from a row further back in fifteenth.

Valentino Rossi (11th - 1'22.868; 32 laps):  "The race setting is not so bad but things were very different on the qualifying tire.  We are getting too much weight onto the front end of the bike and when the rear qualifying tire grips so much this pushes the front even harder and I almost crashed a couple of times.  My hand is still a bit sore but to be honest when I am riding I don't even think about it and this is not what is troubling us today.  It looks like tomorrow will be tough because Dani Pedrosa has a very fast pace but I am starting from a long way back."

"Unfortunately I can't say that we are down in eleventh because I was unlucky; today we deserve to be in eleventh and we have a lot of work to do.  It's difficult to overtake at this track and you need a good setting to make up positions in the race.  At the moment our bike is not quite ready and this situation is not limited to today - it seems we have struggled in practice all year.  Once again I need another great job from my mechanics tonight so that I can try a mad chase the lead group tomorrow." 

First Practice
The Camel Yamaha Team began their preparations for the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring today with riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards working hard to adjust their YZR-M1 machines to the tortuous demands of the MotoGP World Championship's shortest and slowest circuit.

The first day of free practice was held in cloudy yet warm conditions of around 20ºC, with the threat of storms hanging ominously over the circuit throughout the day but thankfully not progressing beyond a couple of spells of light rainfall as the riders squeezed every available minute out of the two hour-long sessions.

Both Rossi and Edwards admitted running into difficulties as they adjusted the base setting of the bike, which so far hasn't proven as well suited to this circuit as it has to faster tracks such as Donington, Assen, Mugello and Catalunya in recent weeks.

The Italian ran sixth fastest in the morning session, with the American ninth, but they were both unable to match the progress made by their rivals in the afternoon and they slid marginally down the time sheets at the end of the day - Rossi ending up seventh with Edwards in eleventh.

Both riders face a crucial day of set-up work tomorrow as they prepare for the tenth round of the season on Sunday.

Valentino Rossi (7th - 1'23.871; 43 laps): "We knew before we came here that this was not one of my favorite circuits and that it was always going to be a big effort from the first day.  Unfortunately that is proving to be the case and I have not got comfortable with the bike or the track today.  We are trying a whole 'sack' of things to make the bike better but we keep running into problems and haven't found the best way to work yet.  Luckily we still have two hours tomorrow to do this so we hope the weather stays dry because we need all that track time to work on the bike."

"Anyway I am still confident because Jerry and the engineers have shown in the past few races when I have been injured that they have a great ability to set the bike up using a minimal amount of data.  Tomorrow we will have to stay concentrated and see what we can do. It already looks like it will be a tough battle on Sunday but the tough ones are always the most fun!"

Colin Edwards (11th - 1'24.100; 33 laps):  "We're struggling.  The bike feels a bit rough in a few sections and we need to make some drastic changes tomorrow to get it working how we want.  The bike and I are not getting along with the circuit at the moment and I'm losing around half a second in the second section alone, which is clearly not good enough.  We have to work on that and generally improve the speed through the corner in all the other sections - it's not carrying enough pace and no matter what I tried it just wasn't happening today.  We know we've still got a lot of work to do but that's what we're here for and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Kawasaki
The journey to this weekend's German Grand Prix was a short one for the Kawasaki Racing Team, whose headquarters are just 200 kilometers south of the historic Sachsenring circuit, in the Bavarian town of Vohenstrauss.

The ten-day break between the last race at Donington Park and this weekend's German Grand Prix has been important for Randy de Puniet.  Time off the bike has allowed the Kawasaki pilot to finally recover from a niggling back injury, which was sustained in the first corner crash that saw him exit prematurely from the French Grand Prix at Le Mans back in May.

The 25-year-old Frenchman arrives in German fully fit and determined to improve upon his twelfth place finish last time out at Donington Park.  De Puniet likes the tight and twisty nature of the Sachsenring circuit and, after watching his Kawasaki teammate, Shinya Nakano, finishing within five seconds of the race winner here last year, he knows that the 3.671 km circuit also suits well the characteristics of his Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machine.

Forced to retire from the British Grand Prix two weeks ago due to a mechanical failure, Shinya Nakano arrives in Germany determined to get his championship campaign back on track, at a circuit that suits both his Ninja ZX-RR and his Bridgestone tyres.

Nakano finished last year's race in a creditable sixth position, after struggling during qualifying, but more importantly he crossed the line less than five seconds behind race winner, and reigning World Champion, Valentino Rossi.

The 28-year-old Kawasaki pilot already has his strategy mapped out for this weekend, with the first sector of the Sachsenring circuit already identified as the place where Nakano feels he must concentrate his efforts during practice, and where he can make up the most time on his factory rivals.

The current Sachsenring hosted its first Grand Prix event in 1998, although the layout was altered in 2001 and the 3.671 km track is now a combination of ten left-hand corners and only four rights, linked by short straights.  The rear tire gets a heavy workout at this track, which features steep, up and down sections with its hillside location.

Probably the most spectacular corner on the whole circuit is the downhill, right-hand turn eight, which is taken at 220 km/h in fifth gear and has been likened to dropping off the edge of the world on a MotoGP bike.  Adding to the excitement of this turn is the fact that it is only one of four right-hand corners on the whole circuit, and coming as it does after a long series of left-hand turns, it's not unusual for MotoGP riders to have the bike almost sideways, with the rear tire spinning and smoking, as they crest the rise at the top of the hill!

Randy de Puniet: #17  "The ten day break between Donington Park and Sachsenring is just what I needed to sort out the back injury I sustained in the first corner crash at Le Mans.  I was able to start training properly again after Donington, so I arrive in Germany for this weekend's race fully fit and ready to go.  Shinya finished sixth in this race last year, less than five seconds behind the race winner, so I know already that this circuit suits the characteristics of both our Ninja ZX-RR and our Bridgestone tyres. Sachsenring is one of the shortest circuits on the MotoGP calendar, which means that we will race over 30 laps on Sunday, but I like this circuit and, if we can pull everything together during practice and qualifying, then I hope to put in a good race performance in the Kawasaki Racing Team's home Grand Prix this weekend."

Shinya Nakano: #56  "I like the Sachsenring circuit, it's one of my favorites, but I'm not sure whether this is because of the track layout or because I finished on the podium here in 2001, which was my debut season in the premier class.  Either way, I always look forward to the German Grand Prix, especially as it is the home Grand Prix of the Kawasaki Racing Team, which is based just two hours down the road from Sachsenring, in Vohenstrauss, Bavaria.  So, we are definitely looking for a good result this weekend, and based on past results here, I think top six is a realistic possibility."

"I need to focus on finding the fastest line through the first part of the circuit, as the first corner is one of the few overtaking places on this track, and because I think there is time to be made up around the slower turns at the start of the lap.  Because passing places are limited it is very important to qualify well here, and we'll definitely be aiming for a front row start during qualifying on Saturday. I'm looking forward to getting things underway on Friday, and I just hope we can give the team a great result in their home race on Sunday."