While the MotoGP tire rules have gotten more pub in 2007, fuel tank capacities have also been reduced for this season. They lost one liter of go-go juice with the new regulations. Now the rules say the maximum tank capacity is 21 liters, down from 22.

For you American types, that's a little over 5.5 gallons.

Perhaps the new regs nearly came back to bite some folks at Assen, where a Ducati and Honda appeared to run out of fuel on the cool-down lap.

Now no one's for certain those tanks were filled to capacity when the race started. Or if running out wasn't the result of a tactical maneuver designed to gain every bit of speed out of the machines.

The FIM lowered fuel capacity rules in an effort to help slow MotoGP bikes down. Less fuel to burn means less power to burn. Which hasn't made the 800cc MotoGP bikes much slower than their 990 elder brothers—just on the cool off lap.