Nicky Hayden (3rd)
Hell ya Nicky! For the second race in a row, the 2006 MotoGP World Champion topped the American report with another podium finish today in Sachsenring. Things weren't looking good for Nicky after a practice crash, an engine explosion on Friday the 13th, and a poor performance during qualifying (14th +.767). Nicky got off to a good start moving up the field quickly to 10th place. Things looked scary when Nicky dropped a few spots after some exhaust trouble, but he held on, and rode hard. It looked as if Nicky was going to make a charge with Rossi to the front until Rossi fell on lap 5 trying to pass De Puniet. Nicky stuck with it and made the Repsol Honda team very happy with two riders on the podium behind Pedrosa and Capirossi. With Laguna just one week away, Nicky had the following to say, "I think that the Americans fans now are starting to get behind MotoGP a bit... I just wanna go home, have fun, and see what happens". Nicky's 16 points for third was enough to leapfrog Barros in the standings where he stands alone in 9th 4 points behind Capirossi.
Colin Edwards (4th)
Rumor has it that Edwards relationship with the Factory Fiat Yamaha team may be coming to a close. In his favor, Rossi loves him as a teammate. But with 250cc champion Jorge Lorenzo looking to move to the premier class in 2008, Edwards may find himself without a GP ride. Colin did his best to swing things further in his favor with a very strong showing working his way from a qualifying position of 13th to an overall 4th in the race, and the second best showing from the Americans. Edwards scored 14 points, gaining 8 on Vermullen for in his battle for 6th in the championship.
John Hopkins (5th)
Hopper this week announced that he will be spending 2008 on board a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR as he signed a 2 year agreement with the factory team. Personally, I was dreaming about Hopkins on a Ducati as soon as the rumors started to spread, but with a rumored 5.5 million asking price, it appears Kawasaki was the most concerned of the factory teams with getting a top notch rider to show off what they've got.
As for the race, Hopkins qualified 5th, .177 seconds behind pole setter Casey Stoner and on top of the class of American riders. John then got off to a good start, riding as high as 2nd on his factory Rizla Suzuki. He put his heart into the race but complained of some ugly vibrations on certain sections of the track and felt that his 5th place finish was as fast as possible giving his bikes problems. Hopkins 9 points for 5th was enough to keep in 4th in the championship race but he lost 16 points to race winner Pedrosa. Personally, I couldn't be more proud of Hopper than I am so far this season. He has been consistently riding well, and despite losing some points to Pedrosa this week in his battle for a championship podium appearance, is still very much in the running. To top it all off, he and his girlfriend Ashley are genuinely nice people and deserve all the good fortune that they have been receiving.
Kurtis Roberts
Young Kurtis qualified 19th this weekend, but scored 4 points, doubling his total for the season.
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