Steve Parrish's MotoGP column

It was an excellent race in Germany - as good as we have seen in a long time.

It was great to see three riders all going for the win right to the flag and it surprised us all to see Dani Pedrosa finish so strongly and take victory.

He has answered his critics who said he stayed away too long to recover from his broken collarbone and he even surprised himself.

He had been there or thereabouts all weekend but he was very solid in the race and thoroughly deserved the victory.

Casey Stoner will be scratching his head though. He seems to be constantly struggling with tyre wear but his team-mates at Repsol Honda are getting on with it fine so he needs to have a look at what is going on inside his garage.

Being beaten by your team-mate is never good news and I can guarantee that Stoner will also be angry with himself that he didn't ride a more defensive line into the last corner.

An incredible last lap from Jorge Lorenzo saw him make up so much time and get through to take second place. He called it a miracle.

The title race is wide open now. There is a long way to go and it could be a very close finish this season.

There is more chance of it going to the wire than in Formula 1 because as we have seen already this season, it only takes one mistake and you can easily break some bones and end up missing a few races.

This weekend we also saw the riders rule out racing in Japan and I am absolutely amazed.

There is no concrete evidence that it is dangerous to go over there and it would be a massive blow for Japan if it doesn't go ahead.

Honda own the circuit and I can't see how they will not make their riders at least compete. They are under contract to race and I don't think they will be able to convince the Japanese manufacturers that they don't fancy racing at their own home event.

So it will be tough for them to stick to. It threatens to cast a shadow over the season and it could even decide who is world champion.

If there are only 20 points between the leaders going into the race and Stoner decides not to travel, then we could see Lorenzo win by default which would be a real shame.

Steve Parrish was talking to BBC Sport's Tom Rostance.