A rather distant second is rookie Dani Pedrosa with 127 and in third Valentino Rossi with 118, who has climbed up the order in a rather quick pace after early season mechanical problems and driver errors cost him quite some points.

The second row of the grid consists out of Shinya Nakano on the Kawasaki in fourth, Loris Capirossi in fifth and Marco Melandri in sixth position.

[4][5] Another rookie - Casey Stoner - did not participate in the race due to a concussion he sustained after a crash earlier that day during the warm-up practice.

As the lights go out, Pedrosa has a great start and retains his lead going into the Coca-Cola Kurve (Turn 1) on the opening lap.

Makoto Tamada meanwhile has also had a fantastic start, passing multiple riders from ninth to move up into fourth place.

Halfway into the lap, the top five have started to open up a slight gap back to sixth place Hopkins.

Inside that group, Hayden is also opening up a slight gap to Roberts Jr, with Pedrosa harassing him all throughout the lap.

[8] On lap two, both Tamada and Melandri pass Roberts Jr. at the beginning and exit of the Coca-Cola Kurve, promoting both to third and fourth place.

At the Sachsen Kurve, Melandri tries to pass Tamada for third but runs wide, allowing the Japanese to retake the place upon exit.

Lap five and Pedrosa tries a move on teammate Hayden but has a moment going into the Coca-Cola Kurve, opting to stick behind him for the time being.

On lap nine, Tamada retries to take third by using the power of his Konica Minolta Honda and blast pass, only to run slightly wide upon entrance of the Coca-Cola Kurve and having to give back the position to Melandri.

Lap ten and Rossi runs a bit wide exiting the Queckenberg Kurve, allowing Tamada to blast past the Camel Yamaha rider and take back third place at the start/finish straight.

On lap eleven, Melandri takes over the lead as he passes Hayden at the start/finish straight, entering the Coca-Cola Kurve.

On lap thirteen, Capirossi has managed to close the gap and is now right behind Hayden, making it a five-way battle for victory.

Lap fifteen and Pedrosa overtakes Melandri as the Italian goes slightly wide and he takes a tighter line entering Castrol Omega, moving him up into second position.

Lap twenty-six and Pedrosa takes second from Melandri, this time executing to perfection the move he tried earlier on the Italian at Castrol Omega.

At the Sachsen Kurve, Pedrosa runs wide and allows both Melandri and Hayden to overtake him, making him lose two positions in one corner.

Crossing the line to start lap twenty-eight, Melandri makes a very late lunge down the inside of Rossi to take over the lead at the front.

Melandri has pulled a small gap back to Rossi but closes it as soon as he enters the Sachsen Kurve - where he also thinks of a move up his inside but stays behind for now.

Hayden then tries to form a pass on the outside of Melandri after he closed the gap to him again on the previous lap, the American not being able to as he now comes under pressure from Pedrosa again.

Exiting the fast right-handed Turn 12, Melandri tries to go up the inside of Rossi but the Italian holds on going into the long straight before the Sachsen Kurve.

One of the two cremembers put on a shirt of Marco Materazzi, the footballer who scored the crucial goal against France during the penalty shoot-out in the finals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which had concluded in Germany a week before the race.