Ben Spies insists he has nothing to lose as he seeks to overhaul Noriyuki Haga's slender lead in the FIM Superbike World Championship.
Rookie Spies has been a revelation in the series this season, winning 11 times aboard his Motor Italia Yamaha R1, but goes into this weekend's round at the Nurburgring seven points adrift of veteran Haga.
The field has had six weeks off since the last round at Brno and the 25-year-old American is confident of taking the lead in the standings for the first time with victory in Germany.
Spies, who has won six of the last eight races, said: "It has been great to have some time out to relax at home in the US."
"I'm fully recharged and really excited about getting stuck into some more racing."
"We've got nothing to lose and everything to gain so I'm just going to keep on giving it 100 percent and see what we can do to catch Nori this weekend."
Haga has twice been runner up in the series as well as recording four third-placed finishes and is desperate to finally become champion this time around.
He is fit and ready to resume his fight after using the break to recover from injuries sustained in a crash back in June.
The Japanese rider was forced to ride through the pain barrier at Brno as a result of his Donington Park accident which left him with injuries to his wrist and shoulder.
The 34-year-old Xerox Ducati rider won twice at the Nurburgring last season despite riding with a broken collarbone and is confident of repeating the feat.
He said: "I got a great result at Nurburgring last year and hope to be able to do the same again this time around."
"It's a really nice track though last year was pretty wet for race day which made things interesting!"
"I'm feeling much stronger than I was at Brno and, after a relaxing holiday back home in Japan, I'm totally ready to continue the fight for the world title."