The MotoGP series has officially begun and not without some rain-soaked controversy. It seems that irrespective of feelings towards night races and make-up races, the show started and proves to be the siren call for all MotoGP fans world-wide. The race didn’t disappoint from that standpoint as every fan can’t wait for their favorite series to start as both Grace and I were waiting with baited breath.
Casey Stoner makes it three successive Qatar victories in what is becoming “his track”. Like Schumacher at France, Casey started quickly and was too fast for Yamaha teammates Rossi and Lorenzo to catch. Unfortunately it appears that Nicky Hayden didn’t fair as well as his teammate. Neither did Pedrosa who is still nursing a broken hand. Rossi said:
“More than strategy, Stoner and I have a different way to approach the race, the way we do practice and the way we set up the bike,” he said.
“Probably it would have been better had we raced last night because we were in better shape and we were closer. While after yesterday’s rain the asphalt was a bit more aggressive, and this morning we already had some small problems with the tyres.
“Unfortunately I lost a bit too much time with Loris and Lorenzo, while Stoner went super quick from the start and built a big gap. But then we had five, six or seven laps when I enjoyed myself because I was going very quick and I was feeling well. I managed to get under two seconds and the race was still long then.
“However after that I started having a few problems too many, so I had to decide whether to crash or to finish second. I thought about that for half a lap and I decided it was better to finish second.”
Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Time Diff 1 27 Casey STONER DUCATI 42’53.984 2 46 Valentino ROSSI YAMAHA 43’01.755 7.771 3 99 Jorge LORENZO YAMAHA 43’10.228 16.244 4 5 Colin EDWARDS YAMAHA 43’18.394 24.410 5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO HONDA 43’21.247 27.263 6 15 Alex DE ANGELIS HONDA 43’23.867 29.883 7 7 Chris VERMEULEN SUZUKI 43’27.611 33.627 8 36 Mika KALLIO DUCATI 43’28.739 34.755 9 24 Toni ELIAS HONDA 43’33.465 39.481 10 14 Randy DE PUNIET HONDA 43’36.268 42.284 11 3 Dani PEDROSA HONDA 43’42.510 48.526 12 69 Nicky HAYDEN DUCATI 43’42.867 48.883 13 59 Sete GIBERNAU DUCATI 43’46.199 52.215 14 33 Marco MELANDRI KAWASAKI 43’50.363 56.379 15 72 Yuki TAKAHASHI HONDA 43’54.270 1’00.286 16 52 James TOSELAND YAMAHA 44’08.962 1’14.978 17 88 Niccolo CANEPA DUCATI 44’09.012 1’15.028 Not Classified 65 Loris CAPIROSSI SUZUKI 13’49.501 15 laps
