It was Casey Stoner who took the headlines with a perfect race and a third consecutive win on the Losail race circuit in the rescheduled MotoGP race this Monday night. He dominated the entire race from the starting grid to the finish line, leaving a second place Valentino Rossi a massive 7.771 seconds behind.
The opening MotoGP contest of the year in the Arabian desert, the first race in the new single tyre supplier era, but it was a familiar story with Stoner crossing the line first, ahead of World Champion Valentino Rossi.
Rossi never got closer than 1.9sec and then started to fade. Rossi would later say that his front tire started to ruin and it was slow down or crash out, also adding that he lost time in the begining of the race.
Lorenzo took third place on the podium staying behind with over 8 seconds from Rossi and 16.244 from Stoner.
After being passed by Rossi, Lorris Capirossi was passed by Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, and then on the eigth lap lost his front and crashed out and was unable to rejoin the race. The Italian Rizla Suzuki Rider felt sorry for his team, that all the pre season efforts that had been put in went waste due to his crash and he could not score any points.
Dovizioso was fifth after losing fourth place to Colin Edwards on lap 14.
A good perfomance by Alex De Angelis, but his position may be contested by the race direction after hitting Dani Pedrosa’s Honda, who despite the considerable force of the hit managed to hang on, but seemed considerably shaken by the incident, considering he was riding at 60/70% fitness after his recent wrist and knee surgery. Pedrosa had fought his way up from 14th to 6th and after the incident was passed by several other riders and finished 11th. Pedrosa after the incident was seen not sliding his knee that much down as compared to earlier making him lose valuable time and position in the race as well as confirming injury to have escalated.
Second Malboro Ducati rider Nicky Hayden also riding injured after his crash during qualifying, finished 12th just behind Pedrosa.
Vermeulen on his Suzuki took home seventh position, and rookie Mika Kallio, second best Ducati rider 8th. Toni Elias on his San Carlo Gresini spec Honda was 9th and Randy de Puniet without his Playboy livery, completed the top ten.
Behind Hayden, returning Sete Gibernau on his Ducati finished 13th while Marco Melandri debuting the Hayate, formerly known as Kawasaki, took a trip into the gravel trap in the first lap but managed to get back in the race and finish 14th in front of Yuki Takahashi, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider James Toseland, who also ran off track was 16th and rookie Pramac rider Niccolò Canepa, 17th.
Final Results of the CommercialBank Grand Prix of Qatar:
1 Casey STONER Ducati Marlboro Team
2 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team +7.771
3 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team +16.244
4 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +24.410
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team +27.263
6 Alex DE ANGELIS San Carlo Honda Gresini +29.883
7 Chris VERMEULEN Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +33.627
8 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing +34.755
9 Toni ELIAS San Carlo Honda Gresini +39.481
10 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP +42.284
11 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team +48.526
12 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Marlboro Team +48.883
13 Sete GIBERNAU Grupo Francisco Hernando +52.215
14 Marco MELANDRI Hayate Racing Team +56.379
15 Yuki TAKAHASHI Scot Racing Team MotoGP +1′00.286
16 James TOSELAND Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +1′14.978
17 Niccolo CANEPA Pramac Racing +1′15.028
Did not finish
Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
The round 2 of Moto GP at the Polini Grand Prix of Japan takes place at the Motegi circuit from 24th-26th April.
Image & standings : motogp
No comments:
Post a Comment