The Nurburgring is one of the most daunting places in the world. A hundred and sixty eight corners, twenty one kilometres and half those bends are blind. It has taken lives and wrecked careers and bodies since it opened in 1927. Unfortunately, perhaps, from a sheer spectacle point of view, this meeting isn't happening on the legendary Nordschleife but on the GP circuit built over the Southern loop of the old circuit. It's a lovely track, undeserving of the slightly derogatory nicknames bestowed as a result of its far more illustrious neighbour. The new track has lots to commend it - fast, sweeping bends, scarily tight chicanes and hairpins and elevation changes galore. It's a wonderful location, popular with riders and visitors alike and easy to get to as well. The only potential fly in the ointment is the weather. The Eiffel is an unpredictable place and the weather can change in the blink of an eye. Sometimes it can be raining and sunny on different parts of the track at the same time. Which makes life exciting.

Practice saw exactly this as the Eiffel skies turned alternately leaden and clear, with a corresponding change both in track temperature and dryness. Which made it rather difficult for the teams to get any really useful data on tyre or suspension settings for the more important business of qualifying and racing. Fortunately nobody had any real traumas and the field was able to move on to Saturday essentially undamaged. Though not a little frustrated as nobody was really able to move forwards.

Saturday was a huge improvement as for the most part it was consistently fairly warm and dry. Qualifying was a mixture of business as usual and a couple of real surprises. One surprise was Haga making an appearance near the top of the timesheets, just two weeks after breaking his collarbone in three places (not two as we were told) at Miller Park. Another surprise was seeing Carlos Checa, as well as both Kenan Sofuoglu and Robby Rolfo, such a long way down. But the Nurburgring isn't an easy track to gel with. Max Neukirchner has been here before, of course, as have both Yamaha riders, plus Biaggi and Checa on GP bikes. But I believe that's it - everyone else is learning from scratch. Which puts Sebastien Gimbert's sixth place in qualifying into some perspective. Pretty damn' impressive, I'd call it... Meanwhile the Alto Evolution pair of Aoyama and Pridmore were having a torrid time after their spectacular performance in the USA. Struggling for the right setup and for confidence. both languished near the bottom of the table although they did rally a little towards the end. Someone having an even worse day, though, was Yukio Kagayama. After running well in qualifying, the Suzuki rider stepped off the bike early in free practice, giving himself concussion as well as a compound fracture in his left hand and took no further part in the weekend's proceedings.

Superpole saw a spectacularly fast lap from twelfth placed Carlos Checa which established him firmly on top until first Troy Bayliss and then Max Neukirchner displaced him. Neukirchner's blistering time, which proved highly popular with the small but very vocal crowd, was unbeatable and left the likeable young German sat at the front for the first time on race day.

Race one was delayed for a few minutes as the skies, which had been blue and sunny up until about ten minutes before the off, became suddenly leaden and then dumped several tons of hailstones on the circuit. Despite the obvious photo-opportunities that a pack of superbike riders on slick tyres riding on small balls of ice would make the organisers decided to wait for things to clear. Which they did, just as quickly as they had started.

Lights out and from the outset it was an Aussie battle as Troys Bayliss and Corser slugged it out with Bayliss prevailing after the first lap. Haga and Neukirchner were close behind, though, and on lap two Haga managed an audacious overtake and got himself to the front. Despite Troy Corser's best efforts (and they really are very good indeed), Max Neukirchner was able to pass the Yamaha rider on the fourth lap, though the Australian continued to fight hard. Two laps later and it was a resurgent Fabrizio, finally starting to demonstrate the talent that got him a ride on the fastest bike in the paddock, who muscled past Corser. But still the Australian kept fighting and never dropped out of contention. Slightly further back, Kenan Sofuoglu made as astonishing start, propelling himself from twentieth on the grid to seventh by the end of the first lap. A real shame, then, that a bike problem forced the young Turk (I've always wanted to use that phrase) to retire just six laps in. And further back still, Shuhei Aoyama was sidelined on just the second lap after another strong start when a sensor failed on the Honda.

Back up at the front and Bayliss and Haga were breaking away from everyone else. And it was Haga leading, though Bayliss pushed hard and made the occasional foray to the front. Indeed, it was on one of these forays that Haga pushed him a little harder and the champion elect ran off the track, dropping time and effectively gifting the race to the Yamaha rider. In fact I thought that Neukirchner might nick second but it wasn't to be and the young German took the last podium step. Corser regrouped and got back past Fabrizio in a textbook overtake to get thirteen valuable points. Behind Corser, Checa and Xaus both pounced on the hapless Fabrizio, storming past and relegating the Ducati rider to seventh despite his efforts. Behind Fabrizio, Nieto, Tamada and Muggeridge all rode impeccable, consistent races to fill out the rest of the top ten. Biaggi seemed to struggle with the Ducati and keeping the front down while Jason Pridmore, the second Alto Evolution Honda rider, parked his bike in the gravel after losing the front in pursuit of that elusive first point for the team.

Race two was warm and dry and started on time. Again it was the two Troys who made the running from the off, this time with Bayliss getting the advantage in the first lap before ceding to Corser in lap two and then regaining it for two laps before in turn losing it to Haga. In fact, an error saw Bayliss drop to fifth behind Checa and Neukirchner, who had made it up to second place for a while before being ousted by a bang on form Corser. We were then treated to an absolute spectacle as the Yamaha pair fought tooth and nail for the lead. Utterly clean and totally sportsmanlike, nonetheless there was no quarter given or requested. In fact, we ended up with several small races within races as Corser and Haga battled it out at the front and Bayliss, Checa, Xaus, Fabrizio and Biaggi scrapped behind. Indeed, only Neukirchner had a relatively easy ride, being clear of elbows and knees of the slavering pack. Aoyama's luck didn't improve, as a chance error ran him into the gravel at the bottom while Pridmore struggled around on a bike that he couldn't get set up properly, and though both of them finished and hopefully got some decent data it was a frustrating weekend for the team.

Talking of frustrating, how must Corser have felt to have finally got past Haga on lap fifteen only to have the race red flagged and the positions rolled back to the previous lap. The red flags came out as, though it was warm and dry at the top of the circuit, it was raining hard at the bottom and going through what was rapidly turning into standing water on slick tyres was no idea of a joke.

So Haga did the double, just, from his team-mate with Neukirchner a lonely third. Bayliss was fourth, holding off the attentions of Checa, Fabrizio and Biaggi.

Misano in two weeks. The championship is wide open now, with just fifty five points separating the top five. It'll be fabulous...

By the way, the popular and talented Tommy Hill, just returned to World Supersport after a huge pre season testing crash, got torpedoed on the first turn of the Supersport race and broke his femur. Again. We feel for him and wish him the best for a speedy recovery.

Race One

1 Nori Haga (Yamaha)
2 Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
3 Max Neukirchner (Suzuki)
4 Troy Corser (Yamaha)
5 Carlos Checa (Honda)
6 Ruben Xaus (Ducati)
7 Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)
8 Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki)
9 Makoto Tamada (Kawasaki)
10 Karl Muggeridge (Honda)

Race Two

1 Nori Haga (Yamaha)
2 Troy Corser (Yamaha)
3 Max Neukirchner (Suzuki)
4 Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
5 Carlos Checa (Honda)
6 Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)
7 Max Biaggi (Ducati)
8 Ruben Xaus (Ducati)
9 Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki)
10 Regis Laconi (Kawasaki)

Championship Standing after five rounds:

1 Troy Bayliss 227
2 Carlos Checa 188
3 Max Neukirchner 176
4 Nori Haga 172
5 Troy Corser 154
6 Fonsi Nieto 141
7 Ruben Xaus 110
8 Michel Fabrizio 106
9 Max Biaggi 97
10 Ryuichi Kiyonari 89

SB