It is crunch time for the 2011 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. Just three races remain to be run in the season, with two of those taking place at the Cardion ab Grand Prix of the Czech Republic at Brno this coming weekend.

Lorenzo Baldassarri, the Italian who turned 15 last week, currently leads the championship over Australia’s Arthur Sissis.

Sixteen year old Sissis had been leading the title chase since the second event in Estoril, only to suffer disaster at the last round in Germany where he scored zero points thanks to a technical failure and a crash in the two races at Sachsenring.

Baldassarri has scored in every round, has 2 wins to the Australian’s 4 but has been more consistent in the rain.

With rain plaguing so much of the season, Sissis has improved his wet weather skills following his mediocre performances in the dismal Silverstone races.

The pair come into the last three races of the season with no clear advantage separating them. Sissis knows Brno well as it is his third year in the cup while Baldassarri has a another track to learn, but that has seemed to cause him few problems so far this season.

Sissis did not have much luck at Brno last year with a technical problem in race one and an 11th in race two after a mistake while running up front.

Of this year’s Rookies who competed in Brno last season by far the most successful was 16 year old South African Brad Binder, with 7-4 scores in the 2010 event. It was those kinds of results that made him the favourite at the start of this year.

However, due to a few mistakes and his dislike of racing in the rain, he now sits back in fifth and cannot win the Cup overall, but has every chance of winning some of the remaining races.

Alan Techer and Philipp Oettl are third and fourth respectively, both with a mathematical chance of taking the title. French 16 year old Techer is 45 points behind Baldassarri.

After taking the win at Sachsenring, Techer;s victory reminded everyone that anything can still happen in this championship, as it was the same weekend that saw series leader Sissis score zero points.

It is all set for another intense battle within that is the fight for the Cup. Race one starts at 16.30 CET on Saturday August 13th with race two running on Sunday at 15.30. The races can be seen on TV around the World and by live webcast at www.redbull.tv with the shows beginning ten minutes before the races.