Lausitzring has been off the calendar for a few years. Which is a shame, because it's an interesting circuit. The racing is good, there are overtaking places and the pits are rather nice too. Last visit saw an Australian - Troy Bayliss - doing rather well. It's somewhere that twin cylinder bikes have always gone very well. Now with a distinct lack of antipodean vee-twin riders it was always possible that history may not repeat itself in a hurry. A depleted field of regulars meant that at least one real twin cylinder contender - Regis Laconi - was out of the picture, joining Chris Walker on the injured list following last week's shenanigans.

Superpole was fairly prosaic most of the way through until Nori Haga set the track on fire with scorching qualifying lap, bettered only by James Toseland, Chris Vermeulen and Mr Superpole, Troy Corser. Yet Corser, as is increasingly the case, failed to take pole. No, Lorenzo Lanzi, after a string of impressive results on the privateer NCR Ducati, was drafted in by the factory to replace Laconi and simply demolished the opposition, taking a brilliant pole position. We knew he was good already, but this was something else.

Race one started in the normal frenzy with Corser taking a solid lead from Vermeulen and Lanzi. Haga and Pitt both jumped Toseland, who really needs to work on his starts to avoid giving himself such a hill to climb in each race. Kagayama, Muggeridge and Chili were all snapping at the champion's heels at the end of the first lap as well. Vermeulen, whose patience with following big Suzukis around has clearly worn thin, took the lead on the second lap while Haga passed Lanzi for third. Muggeridge ran out of track, managing to get on and restart in last place but retiring on the third lap. Frankie Chili, meanwhile, was on the move passing Kagayama and making huge inroads towards Toseland. At the front of the field, Lanzi and Haga continued to scrap, somehow managing not to slow each other down too much, and after fighting past Haga, the young Italian took the lead on lap eight, holding it for two laps before the pressure took its toll. Now things get a little controversial. On the opening lap the Italian went into the first bend rather too hot, apparently after missing a gear. He went through the runoff area (hmm - did the track designers know something Lanzi didn't?) and rejoined in third place. He didn't gain any places as a result of his excursion so no problem. But. There's a chicane there as well, and Lanzi judged that his compromised line and speed made it too dangerous to take it so he rode through. Still didn't gain any positions, but the rules (and this is Germany, remember, where rules must be obeyed) said that he had to be penalised. So after a lengthy delay he was hauled in for a ride through - 60km/h down the pit lane - and pushed back into tenth place.

So Vermeulen had something of a break with only Haga, Corser and Toseland to deal with. And so it stayed, the racing close but not nailbitingly so. Haga finished a full quarter of a second behind Vermeulen with a massive two second gap back to Corser in third. Toseland had taken an age to get past the fast but unco-operative Andrew Pitt so wasn't really in contention for the podium although his pace was really very good indeed. Pitt soon yielded to Kagayama as well while Chili, who had been going so well, had yet more lousy luck as his Honda expired. Again. Local boy Neukirchner had rather better fortune, riding well for a solid seventh with Lanzi making his way back up the field in a distant eighth. Norick Abe brought the very pretty Yamaha into ninth with Ben Bostrom rounding out the top ten. The positions may have changed slightly had the race not been stopped four laps early as it started to rain.

Race two was the same but different. Lanzi again made the break from pole, this time keeping the plot together but still not well enough to avoid being gobbled up by Corser, who took an early lead, Haga and Muggeridge. Vermeulen made a dreadful start, falling back to eighth while Toseland fared little better staying just ahead of the Australian but behind both Pitt and Kagayama. This time, though, the young Englishman took just a couple of laps to pass both Kagayama and the recalcitrant Pitt before taking another few laps to pass Muggeridge. Vermeulen leap-frogged Toseland during this time, getting up to third ahead of the Ducati but behind Haga. Lanzi, in the meantime, had carved through the leaders to take the lead by lap two and even open space. More unlikely still, a very rare mistake by Troy Corser saw the Suzuki rider crash out of contention though somehow managing to remount his rather battered Suzuki and get back into the race at the very back of the field. A few laps later and it was the turn of James Toseland, pushing hard and looking like a very real podium contender when he lost the front at turn one and again managed to rejoin back in thirteenth place.

Up at the front of the train, Haga managed a couple of laps at the front before being devoured by Lanzi - clearly a man with Something To Prove - and Vermeulen. Kagayama got the better of Pitt and Muggeridge, both of whom were suffering with various assorted setup problems, to take Toseland's recently vacated fourth place while Abe lost out in his scrap with Neukirchner for seventh. Steve Martin took a well earned ninth ahead of Frankie Chili while Toseland's charge back up the field ran out of time while he was still in eleventh. Corser had a similar problem ending up thirteenth on a decidedly second-hand Suzuki.

So the end result of all this is several-fold. Corser's previously unassailable lead has been reduced to just sixty points. Still a comfortable margin but no longer out of reach. Toseland's race two misfortune prevented him from fully capitalising on team-mate Laconi's absence, though he has overtaken the Frenchman for fourth place overall. Haga has made hay and taken a solid position at number three though either of the Ducatis could still catch and pass him in the next four races. Kagayama too has moved to within threatening distance of the Ducati pairing while Andrew Pitt has overhauled the injured Chris Walker. Lorenzo Lanzi But the real surprise has to be Lanzi. I would be very surprised not to see him on a factory machine next year.

Talking of next year, Aprilia have just announced that they see SBK as they way forward for their factory efforts as opposed to MotoGP. Who'd bet against seeing Shane Byrne back on a superbike, this time with factory support, after losing his ride (well, the factory losing his bike actually) at Proton/KTM? And Steve Martin has confirmed that he'll be staying with Foggy Petronas next year. Other than that, the silly season is nearly upon us so no doubt there will be lots of wild claims and speculation in the gutter press...

Next race is at Imola in a couple of weeks. A Ducati stronghold which last year saw Laconi do the double with Toseland getting a second and third. Vermeulen took second in the first race while Martin took third in the second, again on a Ducati. Could be interesting...

Race One

1 Chris Vermeulen (Honda)
2 Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha)
3 Troy Corser (Suzuki)
4 James Toseland (Ducati)
5 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki)
6 Andrew Pitt (Yamaha)
7 Max Neukirchner (Honda)
8 Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati)
9 Norick Abe (Yamaha)
10 Ben Bostrom(Honda)

Race Two

1 Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati)
2 Chris Vermeulen (Honda)
3 Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha)
4 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki)
5 Karl Muggeridge (Honda)
6 Andrew Pitt (Yamaha)
7 Max Neukirchner (Honda)
8 Norick Abe (Yamaha)
9 Steve Martin (Foggy-Petronas)
10 Pier-Francesco Chili (Honda)

Championship Standing after ten rounds:

1 Troy Corser 389
2 Chris Vermeulen 329
3 Noriyuki Haga 239
4 James Toseland 215
5 Regis Laconi 214
6 Yukio Kagayama 211
7 Andrew Pitt 137
8 Chris Walker 130
9 Pier-Francesco Chili 125
10 Lorenzo Lanzi 118