Moody Blues: Sachsenring.

In the latest of his exclusive columns for Crash.net, Eurosport MotoGP commentator Toby Moody reveals news from round ten of the 2005 world championship; the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring...

So Sete Gibernau made his own mistake on the last lap and gift VR the race. At least when he was nurfed off at Jerez he could blame Rossi for the wayward pass, but here in Germany there was no one he could point the finger at. Gibbers will have to bounce back from this one big time if he is to keep his status at the top of the Championship.

I am a Gibernau fan for the races that he has won, as he has won them well. Welkom 2003, Germany 2003 were stories of heroic status. However, the curse of protesting Rossi at Qatar was the one race get-out-of-jail free card that worked only once.

That was way back in October and since then Rossi has dug his heels in to break Gibernau by winning 11 of the 13 races since Qatar. The pressure Rossi can exert on people gets stronger and stronger every race and he has proved it works. See Sunday at Sachsenring. Rossi did the same to Biaggi at Brno in 2001. Make your own judgement as to whether or not the Roman has recovered...

Poor Gibernau must not feel too great with the Spanish press upon his shoulders, eager for results, but at the same time he is looking for a ride next year. Who knows what is being discussed over the tables of boardrooms, but with Repsol having nicked Pedrosa from under Telefonica's noses that may leave Gibernau without his entry 'cheque' to a team.

Put it another way; Do Ducati wait until the sponsors of other teams shake themselves out before sorting out their own rider line up - Gibernau surely on the Bologna list?

Gibernau never had the full HRC kit last year, but this year he does and for whatever reason he has not had a win. This has surprised all in the paddock less for a few at Yamaha. Hero to zero in four months. It has been an incredible drop off.

So, does Gibernau opt for another option in going to another team and just go for the race wins rather than championships? After all, who has a cat in hell's chance in beating Rossi at the moment?

Conversely, the Burgess/Yamaha/Rossi triangle just gets better and better - something we may only be able to see in latter years when looking back. The trouble is, who are the other teams Gibernau could turn to less for Ducati? You have to believe that Ducati want to see Sete's 1996 Marlboro leathers brought back out of the wardrobe.

Truth told, Rossi holds all of the cards just as Doohan did. No-one of significance moves until the big guy signs on the dotted line, and now he has done that, things are going to fall into place.

It was too much to ask for Rossi to leave Yamaha and do it all again just 15 months after winning at Welkom on the blue Yam. He is a happy camper at Yamaha and they are wise enough to throw money and resources at keeping their w?nder ticket. Only if Ducati had kept their 2002 pace from the opening year of MotoGP would Rossi contemplate going to the red team. Now that would have been good!

Red Bull big wigs were in and around the paddock having flown direct from Hungaroring on Friday night in one of the Red Bull Hangar 7 aeroplanes. They have upped their involvement with MotoGP through the US GP sponsorship and the one off Suzuki colours there.

They are linked with Hopkins and Hayden, so do they fill a potential gap at Gresini if Movistar move off to follow Alonso in F1 as a reigning world champion? No brainer that Telefonica may go off in a huff after the loss of 'their' Dani.

Do Red Bull buddy back up with Suzuki who are 8th in the Team Championship, therefore staying with Hopkins? Do they stay with the KTM powered Roberts machine? I don't want to write this, but does the KTM Powered Roberts machine stay in the paddock? Let's hope they can get that engine working, or even get another engine in that chassis. Just where do all the 'old' engines go from the Japanese factories....?

The Red Bull lot did not fall off a Christmas tree and - amongst much emotion and angst from some when they took over the Jaguar F1 team last winter - have actually done far better than Jaguar ever did in many more years of racing in F1. In this new post tobacco sponsorship age in Europe, Red Bull are very young, trendy and fun. Very MotoGP.

With all the 'changes' of the new tobacco laws that shook themselves out at Hungaroring over the weekend, Phillip Morris (Marlboro) made noises from Switzerland to intent to support the sport of Motorcycle racing, continuing to support Ducati and place static publicity where the law permits. The branding in Germany on the Ducatis apparently complied with laws in all countries which host grand prix.

I have heard some time ago that even if full branding only appears at some races, they are still happy to be there as a 'red' sponsor whether on a Ferrari or a Ducati. They have been associated with motor racing of four and two wheels for ages. You can hardly see them dropping their involvement in a sport they have supported for such a long time.

Rumours abound that the FIA and Dorna are trying to do some kind of deal with the EC, but it must be time to stop clinging on to the Gaspers branding.

Barros' $3m payment back to Altadis is not good for his bank balance, but it is good for the re-iteration of honouring one's word in the paddock.

With contracts sometimes not being worth the paper they are written on, although hard on Alex, it is a good thing that the judgement has been made - as F1 and Mr Button have discovered in recent days.

Button was asked on ITV in the UK on Saturday if he wanted to stay at BAR because they offered him more money than Williams. Surely not...

So who is going to be the next Dani? One may have to put one's money on Jorge Lorenzo. Indeed he may be a loon on the racetrack but in the past couple of races he seems to have cooled down a little... until Sunday.

Although yet to win a 250cc race he has won some brilliant 125cc races, such as he did in Rio last year. He looks older than he really is and that fools one into thinking that he has actually been around longer than he actually has. Rookie he still is...

Spanish press made the mistake pre-Donington of saying that Lorenzo had just Donington and the Sachsenring races to win to become the youngest ever 250cc GP winner and beat Marco Melandri's record.

The mistake was soon realised because actually he has the rest of the remaining season to beat Melandri's record, and you have to believe he is going to do that. "I will not tell him that he has all season to do it. Let him think he has to do it sooner rather than later," says his Dad.

Amazingly the story of Jorge Lorenzo is a bit of a Serena and Venus Williams one in that he has been moulded by his Father, himself a 125cc Spanish journalist for Solo Moto here in the Press Office.

Father Chicho has in fact written a book about he lad called Asi Se Forma Un Futuro Campeon (Thus is formed a Future Champion). Written three years ago it covers everything from Riding to Press Relations to Nutrition.

Jorge's real name is actually Giorgio as his Dad thought that it didn't sound too Spanish during a time when a Spanish World 500cc Champion was still a very very long way off (Criville '99).

Nicknamed 'Por Fuera' (round the outside) he did just that to Pedrosa at Mugello on numerous corners, spooking Pedrosa through the race, but not stopping No 1 from winning there.

The rivalry was set up for Lorenzo to come up with some cracking lines that the Spanish press have loved. "I am faster than Pedrosa" and "Anybody who enjoys being on the bike is not serious enough". Hard not to print ones like that isn't it.

Lorenzo is managed by Dani Amatriain who also looks after Debon and Fonsi Nieto.

Where do we go to find the next MotoGP riders? Still 250 is the favourite gene pool for MotoGP team managers. Never forget the quote from Marco Melandri after he first jumped on a MotoGP bike. "This is far easier to ride than a 250."

Colin Edwards has been the highest Superbike points scorer in the big class of late with 157 points last season. To date he has 114 just 2 points back of Melandri, 1 behind Gibernau and one ahead of Biaggi. Superbike does not have the depth it once had in the Foggy then Edwards / Bayliss days. Where else do we go?

Snippets:
Watch the watch: As we are in the midst of bling times, Rossi appeared with a black faced Rolex Explorer II at the Sachsenring.
Hot hot hot: The weather at the Sachsenring was scorching hot on Friday with track temperatures hitting 53 degrees celsius as ambient air temperatures hit 34. A massive thunderstorm over the Saxony region during the evening of Friday left the paddock underwater, but it cleared the air of the humidity. A further thunderstorm at midnight lit the sky up and prevented many from getting to sleep.

BMW K1200R vs. local GP rider on 600... BMW wins!
When Fuchs was testing at Sachsenring, local Grand Prix rider Steve Jenkner was as also present thrashing around on a Yamaha R6 machine on slick tyres. Fuchs was very happy to finish the day over 0.5 seconds faster than the latest Supersport 600 bike. Impressive.
Another quick Spanish 4-stroke rider: Arturo Tizon from Spain produced another podium finish in the BMW Power Cup. The 21-year-old harried eventual winner and wise old owl Roberto Panichi right to the line on Saturday afternoon.

Riding under the Aspar team umbrella, he may be one to look out for in the future and a rider who may be able to jump from another class other than 250 into MotoGP. Tizon is currently the top 600 Supersport rider in the Spanish Championship.