The MotoGP World Championship returns to Europe on October 15th for the penultimate race of the season, the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal. As the season draws to a close, the stakes are ever higher for the title contenders, who could either take the championship or set the scene for a dramatic finale at the end of the month in Valencia.

All eyes are on the top two in the premier class, as Nicky Hayden hangs on to the lead in the classification by 12 points. Closest challenger Valentino Rossi has been chipping away at the American’s advantage in recent races, whilst Hayden himself has been experiencing something of a dip in form. Amidst Rossi’s spectacular comeback and some of the most exciting races of the 2006 season, the fact that the Kentucky Kid could clinch his first world title in just a few days time has almost been overlooked. Depending on a number of mathematical eventualities, some more plausible than others, Hayden could leave the Estoril Circuit on October 15th as the last MotoGP World Champion in its 990cc format with a race to spare. The standout eventuality is simple though: If Hayden wins in Portugal and Rossi is unable to finish higher than fifth, then the 2006 MotoGP title will be heading to American soil.

Estoril is one of Hayden’s least successful circuits, having failed to finish in the top six in his two previous visits. He missed the 2004 race through injury. On the other hand, Rossi has been on the podium on each of his six races in Portugal, four of those times on the highest step.

In third place overall and 27 points behind Hayden, Fortuna Honda’s Marco Melandri is still in with a mathematical chance of becoming World Champion. Despite being one of the few riders to win three races this season, the young Italian has a much more realistic option of finishing in either second or third, and a win at Estoril would do his chances no harm at all. He announced at the end of last week he will stay with the Gresini team for 2007, so the welcome boost may push him to greater things this weekend.

Loris Capirossi lies four points behind Melandri, and is celebrating his best ever MotoGP season. The Italian was the winner of the last round in Japan, and his third place finish in Portugal back in 2003 is the best ever result for a Ducati rider at the track.

Recently-crowned Rookie Of The Year Dani Pedrosa rounds off the tightly-packed bunch of mathematical title contenders, three points behind Capirossi.

The last two races of the season will see the usual line-up joined by the Ilmor team, a new outfit run by renowned engineer Mario Illien and counting on GP winner Garry McCoy as their rider. With an 800cc bike ready for next year’s new regulations, Ilmor are looking to have their team on the grid for the entire 2007 season, and the next two races will be the ideal preparation for the task ahead.

The bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal takes place on October 15th, with practices starting on the Friday before. Sunday’s race start-times are shuffled from their usual order to accommodate TV scheduling, with 250cc at 11:15am, MotoGP set to begin at 1:00pm and 125cc at 2:30pm (all local time - GMT +1).

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