Denning: 800cc rules more exciting

Just 0.815 seconds covers the top 16 on the grid in German, with the front row trio all lapping within 0.013 seconds.

Denning's riders John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen will start fifth and 11th, but are only 0.177 and 0.655 seconds from pole respectively.

"It is incredibly close racing - as it has been on many weekends recently," Denning said.

"It looks like whoever it was that decided to change to the 800cc bikes for 2007 clearly knew something we didn't in terms of the excitement of the show."

Vermeulen said the fact that the field was so evenly matched gave him hope that he could improve on his midfield qualifying position in the race.

"It's not great being in 11th, but we are only 0.6 seconds off pole," he said.

"This is close racing so if I can get off the start well, my race pace is there - it's a lot better than where we qualified. I just need to get my passing mind in and my elbows out and get going from the off."

Hopkins believed he could easily have found the 0.177 seconds that seperated him from pole.

"I made a bit of a mistake on the first lap and then got held up by some other riders on the second one," he said.

"That meant the pressure was on with my final lap, and I made a couple of mistakes on the last two corners and didn't get round them as quick as I would have liked, or I'm sure I would have been on the front row, if not on pole.

"A couple of guys are running a really high race pace so I will have to try and match them and then better them at the end tomorrow."

Denning is confident that both riders will be in contention in the race.
 
"We possibly lack something to the very fastest guys on ultimate lap time, but our consistency looks great, and 30 laps in this heat will be a real test for everything technically and physically," he said.