McCoy has vowed to ride in the way that has made him an international crowd favourite, but says it is too much to expect him to win, especially on his traditional 500cc Yamaha against the mighty new four-stroke bikes.

Round nine of the MotoGP championship is at the sweeping 3.429km Sachsenring circuit in eastern Germany, a track well-suited to McCoy's trademark speedway sliding style. It will be the last round before the five-week northern hemisphere summer break, with seven more rounds to follow, including the SKYY VODKA Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Victoria's Phillip Island on October 18-20.

Sachsenring is noted for a series of constantly sweeping curves that run downhill and then up across a valley, with relatively slow average lap speeds, which should also improve the chances of Australia's rising 250cc star, teenager Casey Stoner.

McCoy, 30, from Camden on the outskirts of Sydney, said he would be riding "like I normally do" after completing last week's British GP at Donington without any complications to his healing right leg and ankle fractures. He completed that 30-lap race, his first in 10 weeks in 12th place, and has been buoyed by the lack of pain and the return of strength and flexibility in his right leg, which was fractured in February.

"I needed to finish a race and get my concentration back, so Donington was good for that and, although I'm never happy to be 12th, in the circumstances it was a good work-out," McCoy said.

"It's a tough field in Moto GP, there are a lot of good riders out there and everyone is getting on the gas really hard, week-in, week-out, and you really notice that having been away for three races.

"It's just a matter of getting back up to speed with the race pace after being off the bike for more than two months, and I think it will be a lot better for me in Germany. I'm taking it step-by-step and last weekend at Donington I felt more comfortable each day - and that's what I aiming to do at the Sachsenring.

"It's too much for me to expect to win a race at the moment, especially against the guys on four-strokes. The best the riders on 500c two-strokes can hope for is the top five, perhaps the podium (top three), depending on the track."

Italian Valentino Rossi is aiming for his seventh straight MotoGP win on his four-stroke Honda, after boosting his 500cc/MotoGP win rate to a staggering 50 per cent at Donington.

Rossi scored his 20th win from 40 starts in the premier class, enhancing his position at the top of the strike-rate table of modern riders. Second is Australia's five-time 500cc world champion Mick Doohan with 54 wins from 137 starts - a win rate of 39.4 per cent.

Rossi leads this year's championship by a massive 87 points, with his Japanese teammate Tohru Ukawa the only rider to have beaten him so far. Ukawa missed the previous race at Donington following a spectacular crash during practice, but is hopeful of being fit for Sachsenring.

However, Suzuki's 2000 world champion, American Kenny Roberts, will miss the German race. Roberts has been suffering pain and weakness in his right arm caused by "pumping up", a common problem for motorcycle racers, exacerbated by the heavier four-stroke machines and has gone to the US for surgery.

Yamaha's four-stroke riders, Italian Max Biaggi and Spaniard Carlos Checa, are still on the hunt for a win this season, but Biaggi has been on the podium three times in the past five races - including second in Britain last Sunday.

The two-stroke challenge will most likely come from Brazilian veteran Alex Barros, who won at Sachsenring two years ago and has finished second and third in the past two GPs.

In the 250cc class, Stoner, 16, from Kurri Kurri in New South Wales, is hoping to find the best possible set-up for his Aprilia bike at the
Sachsenring.

Stoner and his Safilo Oxydo Race LCR team want the bike feeling and performing like it was before his crash during practice for the British GP, where he finished a disappointing 11th.

He has not raced at Sachsenring but is optimistic that the circuit, where pure horsepower is not so important, will improve his chances against the dominant factory Aprilias. He has been trying to learn the circuit layout on his Playstation en route to Germany in the family
motorhome.

Italian Marco Melandri arrives at Sachsenring favourite to take his fifth straight 250cc win, at the circuit where he won his first 250ccc GP last year.

Melandri leads Spaniard Fonsi Nieto by 13 points in the championship, while Nieto's compatriot and teammate, Toni Elias, is in form with podium finishes in the past two races.

Making Stoner's task even harder this weekend will be the appearance of German Ralf Waldmann as a wildcard on an Aprilia. Waldmann is a 14-time 250cc GP winner, including two Australian GP victories at Phillip Island in 1997 and Sydney's Eastern Creek in 1995.

A trio is battling out the 125cc championship, with 19-year-old Manuel Poggiali, the reigning champion from San Marino, leading Spanish 16-year-old Daniel Pedrosa by 16 points and Frenchman Arnaud Vincent a further two points behind. Pedrosa has had a superb season on his Honda, taking his first victory three weeks ago in Holland and a second place at Donington, where Aprilia rider Vincent won and Gilera-mounted Poggiali was third.