Last year Max Biaggi won the race from his Yamaha team-mate Carlos Checa with Shinya Nakano and Norick Abe third and fourth respectively on similar 500cc two-stroke Yamaha machinery. World champion Valentino Rossi had a tough weekend and eventually finished seventh but he returns to this motorcycle racing crazy part of Germany in very different circumstances this year.

The 23-year-old Italian has won seven out of the eight championship races so far this season, riding the RC211V Honda five-cylinder four-stroke. His only defeat came at the hands of his team-mate Tohru Ukawa who Rossi leads in the Championship by a massive 87 points. Ukawa missed the last race, the Cinzano British Grand Prix at Donington Park, following his spectacular crash on Friday morning but he's hopeful of being fit for the race on Sunday.

Biaggi finished second behind Rossi at Donington, riding the M1 four-stroke Yamaha, while his team-mate Checa crashed while leading. Suzuki will field three riders on their GSV-R four-strokes at the weekend but they will not include former world champion Kenny Roberts. The American returned home after Donington to have an operation on his right arm that has been causing 'pumping-up' problems all season. His place will be taken by Yukio Kagayama, who rides the GSV-R four-stroke in the all-Japan Championship. Akira Ryo will continue to ride with Spaniard Sete Gibernau as a wild card entry for the team in both the German and Czech Republic races. The final four-stroke on the grid will be the RS3 Aprilia of Frenchman Regis Laconi who has hit problems in the last two races after scoring points in the first six races.

Once again the two-stroke challenge will come from the in-form 31 year-old Brazilian Alex Barros. Riding the Honda Pons NSR500, Barros has finished second and third in the last two Grands Prix and won the race at the Sachsenring two years ago. For the second race in succession he will be joined by German Alex Hofmann, who replaces the injured Loris Capirossi at his home Grand Prix.

Norick Abe confirmed his tremendous form this season when he finished fourth at Donington, riding the Yamaha D'Antin YZR500. He shares fifth place in the Championship with Checa after only failing to score in just one race this year. The 250cc World Champion Daijiro Kato suffered a rare 250 defeat at the Sachsenring last year and he returns, slowly regaining the early season form he displayed on the Honda Gresini NSR.

Another 250cc World Champion, Frenchman Olivier Jacque won the 250cc race at the Sachsenring two years ago and he returns in good form after finishing fifth at Donington, riding the Yamaha Tech 3 bike. Nineteen-year-old American John Hopkins continued his remarkable record of scoring points at every round of his debut season while his Red Bull Yamaha team-mate Garry McCoy makes the second race of his comeback since injury.

Nineteen-year-old Italian Marco Melandri arrives in Germany in great spirits and it is no wonder why. The Aprilia rider has won four successive 250cc Grands Prix and last year secured his first ever 250cc Grand Prix win at the Sachsenring. He leads Spaniard Fonsi Nieto by 13 points in the Championship and would like to increase the gap before taking a well-deserved holiday. The rider who may cause both Melandri and Nieto problems in the 29-lap race on Sunday could be Nieto's Telefonica Movistar-Repsol Aprilia team-mate, 19-year-old Spaniard Toni Elias. He has finished second and third in the last two Grands Prix and finished second in the 125cc race last year, which was won by Italian Simone Sanna.

Frenchman Arnaud Vincent found his early season form to win the superb 125cc race at Donington and he's closed to within three points of second placed Daniel Pedrosa in the Championship. Heading the table is world champion Manuel Poggiali, riding the Gilera, with a 16-point advantage over 16-year-old Pedrosa who has had a superb season, riding the Honda. Last year Poggiali was third after a tremendous battle with Sanna, Elias and Masao Azuma.