After his heroics as Assen, the sense was nothing could stop superman Lorenzo's charge to the 2013 title - then the worst happened. A huge highside, resulting in a bent plate in his collar bone, meant no Lorenzo at Assen (or probably Laguna either). Then Pedrosa fired himself sky high, also ruling himself for Germany. With the top two out, a golden opportunity emerged for Cal, Marquez and Rossi to close the title race up. Cal may be battered, but he is as hard as nails while Rossi is hungry for success and Marquez is just plain fast! Sad as it is for the top two riders to be out injured, for fans it made the pre-race buildup far more exciting...
Stefan Bradl led initially; he finished fourth
And speaking of excitement, the German fans had what they wanted as home lad Stefan Bradl led for the opening lap with Rossi on his heels and CRT hero Espargaro embarrassing a lot of prototype riders in third spot.
A few laps in and normality was restored with Bradl ahead of Rossi and Marquez in the leading group while Cal and Bautista battled it out a few metres behind. Then a moment for Rossi allowed Cal to close the gap while Marquez ruined the Germany party up front. Soon after the Spaniard pulled the pin, opening a gap on Bradl who now had Rossi and Cal for company...
With a second in hand, leader Marquez was soon starting to be forgotten about as Rossi and Cal provided the mid-race entertainment. With 14 laps to go, Cal stuck it under Rossi - could he chase down Marc and take a first Brit MotoGP win? It's been a great flag waving month with a Lions series win, a test match victory and a Wimbledon champion...could we have a MotoGP win as well?
Marquez held off a late challenge from Crutchlow
With just five laps to go the gap was closing; were Marc's tyres shot? Yes, but unfortunately not by enough. Another win for Marquez, second spot for Cal and Rossi third. All results that closed the championship up nicely; roll on Laguna!
In Moto2, a disappointing qualifying and start saw Scott Redding face an uphill battle in the race. Seventh spot was a case of damage limitation for Redding and helpfully for the Brit, Corsi held off Espargaro in the battle for second. At the front Jordi Torres took his first Moto2 race win.
The large Sachsenring inclines compacted the top runners in Moto3 nicely with Rins, Vinales and Salom all bidding to take the victory. An entertaining last lap saw Rins sneak the win with a great overtake from Salom and Vinales.
MotoGP
1. Marquez (Repsol Honda Team)
2. Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3)
3. Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing)
Moto2
1. Torres (Aspar Team Moto2)
2. Corsi (NGM Mobile Racing)
3. Espargaro (Tuenti HP 40)
Moto3
1: Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0)
2: Salom (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
3: Vinales (Matteo Ferrari)
Brit watch
Cal Crutchlow (MotoGP) - 2
Bradley Smith (MotoGP) - 6
Michael Laverty (MotoGP - CRT) - 16
Scott Redding (Moto2) - 7
Danny Kent (Moto2) -20
Gino Rea (Moto2) - 25
Kyle Smith (Moto2) - 30
John McPhee (Moto3) - 23