Big Three On Row One in Deutschland

After Free Practice on Monday at the Sachsenring near Dresden, it looked like Dani Pedrosa would be a contender for another first place. He recorded the fastest race lap here two years ago. Stoner also looked strong ... he holds the fastest lap record during qualifying last year. Lorenzo also looked like his injuries were giving him trouble enough that he might not make the podium. As always, practice sessions can be misleading. In actual qualifying, the rain-soaked track that normally brings wet weather specialists to the front, Rossi smoked (sprayed?) the field, finishing more than 6/10ths of a second ahead of Lorenzo, who also pulled out 6/10ths of a second over Stoner in third. Pedrosa gridded a disappointing 8th behind Colin Edwards. Looks like 7th is the new 6th for Edwards. The surprise qualifier was Hayden who grabbed fourth ... inspite of a spectacular highside in slippery downhill turn eight. Spat off and flying through the air, he torpedoed Ducati rider Niccolò Canepa right off his bike. Both riders walked away. Turn eight saw lots of other big highsides, including 5th place de Angelis, 6th place Randy de Puniet, Melandri (serious butt-landing) and Elias. This makes things a little confusing. On this track, with mild temperatures and overnight rain, I was going to suggest a podium of Pedrosa, Stoner and Rossi ... but now it's looking like another Rossi-Lorenzo fight for first with Stoner in the mix. I think Casey will be a little more competitive in this race. Lorenzo may not be able to go the full distance because of his injuries. This could go Rossi-Stoner-Lorenzo. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Pedrosa seriously motivated to get a blazing fast start to jump up with the front runners ... something he's quite capable of. Hayden's the wildcard in this mix and he may be fast enough in the beginning to seriously get in someone's way. The big three all need to get a clean start and get some clear air between themselves and the "peleton". If Rossi gets a bad start ... which happens more often than it should ... he'll have his work cut out for him climbing to the front.