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Final race positions after 30 laps:

1 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati

2 V Rossi (Ita) Fiat Yamaha

3 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki

4 A de Angelis (SMr) Honda

5 A Dovizioso (Ita) JiR Honda

6 S Guintoli (Fra) Ducati

7 L Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki

8 R de Puniet (Fra) Honda

By Julian Shea

606: DEBATE Discuss the German MotoGP here

Lap 30: Final positions: 1. Stoner 2. Rossi 3. Vermuelen .

James Toseland finished back in 11th place. After a decent start to the season, he has really hit a sticky patch recently. Oh well, live and learn for the Englishman.

So the big question is - what does this (or more specifically Pedrosa's failure to finish?) do to championship standings?

The scores on the doors now are
Rossi 187 points
Pedrosa 171 and
Stoner 167.

After last year, isn't it great to have a really competitive championship? All we're missing so far is a fierce battle for the lead in a race (the battle always seems to be for second or third place) and a blanket finish, but fingers crossed we'll get one of them next week in Laguna Seca.

Lap 25: Back in his garage, Dani Pedrosa must be kicking himself - assuming his bruises allow it.

No-one else has come close to Casey Stoner today, and had he stayed on he would surely have been disputing the lead. Instead, he went all out at opening up a huge lead earlier than he should have done, and having got over seven seconds clear, he then lost it. Goodbye to a decent number of points, and the top spot in the title race. Ouch.

Lap 24: With places one and two seemingly sorted out - famous last words - the main bone of contention left in the race is who will be on the third step of the podium.

Vermeulen will be slightly alarmed he hasn't managed to shake off de Angelis yet, and the longer he stays close to the Australian, the more de Angelis will fancy his chances of passing him.

Lap 20: Another one bites the extremely wet dust as the rain starts to fall once again - Colin Edwards comes off as he goes downhil, crashing out from fifth place. Poor chap.

Lap 18: Leader Stoner has a 4.5 second gap on second-placed Rossi now, so you have to think it will take a stray puddle to mess things up for the Australian here - but as Dani Pedrosa has already shown, sometimes these things do happen.

Lap 15: Chris Vermeulen has a reputation as being good in the rain but Rossi is not letting him close up the gap to second place, and he can't seem to shake off Alex de Angelis in fourth place.

Lap 14: So last time out it was Rossi who had a shocker, this time out Pedrosa is going to have a DNF - Stoner must be counting his blessings as those two strokes of bad luck for his opponents have given him a huge chance to leap back into the title race.

"Poor Dani. Was thinking it was too good to be true. Michelin never win races in the wet. You just can't with their front wheel."
hygroscopic, via 606

Lap 11: Stoner has just opened up a three second gap on Rossi but even he is showing the odd wobble in the rain. You get the feeling there could still be a couple of twists and turns left in this one.

Lap 8: When life is against you, life is against you - what can you do? Marco Melandri was celebrating his liberation from Ducati by having his best day of the season so far, but just as he was starting to think luck had turned his way, he skidded off.

Lap 7: Slowly but surely, Rossi is hunting down Stoner - he now nips past Dovizioso into second place.

Lap 6: Rossi passes Edwards on the inside to move into third. Nicky Hayden, who has been having an absolute stinker of a day, is back in the pits having his back tyre changed. Not a good day for the Repsol Honda boys so far.

Lap 4: Pedrosa adds another second onto his lead. The weather looks absolutely wretched out there. BUT PEDROSA'S GONE!! A touch of the brakes at 170mph and he slid off straight into the gravel. A horrible long roll into the wall, but he's walked away without any serious damage.

But the world championship leader, having had a 7.5 second lead, is now going to register a Did Not Finish and blow the championship wide open.

Lap 3: First casualty of the day - Jorge Lorenzo spins off, no serious harm done as far as anyone can see but the Spaniard will be hugely disappointed that his comeback from injury has suffered a setback. Pedrosa is already over five seconds clear at the front - wow.

Lap 1: Dani Pedrosa is off to a flyer, but so is James Toseland - up to sixth from 11th on the grid.

1258: 98,130 people are standing and sitting out in the increasingly heavy rain in Germany - let's hope they get some decent entertainment to make it worth their while.

1250: Signs of relief all round in the Ducati garage, as the worst-kept secret in biking is out - team chief Livio Suppo confirms that the second year of Marco Melandri's contract has been cancelled.

For whatever reason, the combination of bike and rider just didn't work, so now the team have the possibility of bringing in another rider - Sete Gibernau, perhaps - who might be able to do a better job on it, and the rider can look around for a bike which can showcase his undoubted abilities better - a Kawasaki, perhaps.

1230: Afternoon all, here we go again. And the most important thing to say is about the weather at Sachsenring - it's wet and miserable, so after a few processional races won by Casey Stoner, maybe this one could be a bit less cut and dried (no pun intended).

The morning has provided us with some decent entertainment - once again, Bradley Smith had a sniff of the lead in the 125cc race before eventually coming fourth, behind Mike di Meglio, Stefan Bradl and Gabor Talmacsi. Surely he's due another podium finish soon - and who's to say it won't be top spot?

The 250cc race was won by Marco Simoncelli, who has moved to the top of the championship standings as a result.

Hector Barbera and Alvaro Bautista were second and third, with previous championship leader Mika Kallio finishing fourth.

So, what are your hopes, dreams, predictions etc for today's race? Contact us by text or via 606 to join the conversation.