Australia’s Casey Stoner once again asserted his supremacy at the Losail International Circuit by winning the season-opening Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar with a time of 42’38.569 here last night.
For Stoner, who was making his debut with Repsol Honda, this was the third title under lights. The Aussie had won the inaugural night race here in 2008, and then again in 2009.
Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha Factory Racing, after a tooth and nail battle with Stoner’s teammate Dani Pedrosa, settled for the second spot clocking 42’42.009. Third placed Pedrosa was 5.051 seconds off the winner.
“It’s a similar start when we won the world championship in 2007. Everything that we did has been amazing. This weekend we did a great job with the bike and everything went fantastic. I had a good feeling going into the race and felt very comfortable out there,” said a jubilant Stoner after the race. Gulf Times
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Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) were involved in a close battle for fourth place throughout the race and it was the Repsol Honda who took the first position off the podium. Dovizioso finished 5.942 behind Stoner.
There was much anticipation surrounding the debut of Valentino Rossi with the Ducati Team. The Italian finished seventh after racing Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing), after swapping places with the American, the Yamaha got the advantage over the Ducati to take sixth place.
Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was eighth, with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) completing the top ten. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) managed to take 11th place on the last lap ahead of Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team). GP debutant Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) was the final rider to pass the chequered flag and earned himself three points, with just 13 riders finishing the first race of the season. Motogp.com
Both Pramac Ducatis failed to finish after some exceptional bad luck: Randy de Puniet highsided on the opening lap while trying to overtake team-mate Loris Capirossi, the Frenchman’s bike then clipping Capirossi’s hand and forcing him to retire soon after.
Toni Elias crashed out at far higher speed on lap 19, while 14th and last for LCR Honda.
All riders used the harder option front and rear tyre.
Suzuki’s only 2011 MotoGP rider, Alvaro Bautista, missed the race after breaking his left femur in a Friday night highside. Former Suzuki MotoGP rider John Hopkins will ride in place of Bautista during round two, at Jerez from April 1-3. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
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