Stoner opens title defense with historic victory under lights
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Casey Stoner is all but untouchable at the Grand Prix of Qatar, whether he’s the hunter or the hunted.
Defending MotoGP World Champion Stoner won this event March 9 for the second consecutive year on his Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati/Bridgestone, leading runner-up Jorge Lorenzo by 5.323 seconds. Dani Pedrosa finished third on his Repsol Honda Team Honda/Michelin, 10.600 seconds behind Stoner.
It was the first night race in the 60-year history of Grand Prix motorcycle racing, as a 5.5-million watt system designed by Musco Lighting of Iowa illuminated the 16-turn, 3.343-mile (5.380 km) desert circuit.
“That was a fantastic race, and I really enjoyed it,” Stoner said. “It was like being back in 125s! The first few laps were really hectic. There were guys bashing fairings, and I just tried to stay out of the way. When I got my chance to get through, I took it, and from there I just focused on setting my pace.
“Jorge (Lorenzo) rode brilliantly; it wasn't an easy race by any means, especially at the start.
Andrea Dovizioso joined Lorenzo as a rookie finishing in the top four, edging five-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi by 17-hundredths of a second for fourth on his JiR Scot Team Honda/Michelin after a thrilling duel on the final lap, during which the two riders traded positions three times.
American riders had a tough season debut. Colin Edwards, from Houston, finished seventh on his Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha/Michelin after starting third. 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden, from Owensboro, Ky., finished 10th on his Repsol Team Honda Honda/Michelin, while John Hopkins, from Ramona, Calif., placed 12th on his Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki/Bridgestone.
Stoner’s victory last year at this event was the surprising first of 10 wins en route to his first world title. This year, every rider in the MotoGP field is aiming for Australian Stoner, but the result was no different.
Australian Stoner started fourth and held that position until Lap 7. Then on Lap 8 he blasted past Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Rossi for the lead, never trailing thereafter.
Spanish rookie Lorenzo, who started from the pole with a track-record lap, tried to stay with Stoner after his dramatic surge to the front but faded after Lap 15.
The next race is the Grand Prix of Spain on March 30 at Jerez The inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP is Sunday, Sept. 14 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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RESULTS
LOSAIL, Qatar – Results of the 22-lap Grand Prix of Qatar MotoGP race, with position, rider, country, motorcycle/tire, time behind winner:
1. Casey Stoner, Australia, Ducati/Bridgestone 2. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain, Yamaha/Michelin, +5.323 seconds 3. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, Honda/Michelin, +10.600 4. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy, Honda/Michelin, +13.288 5. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Yamaha/Bridgestone, +13.305 6. James Toseland, Great Britain, Yamaha/Michelin, +14.040 7. Colin Edwards, United States, Yamaha/Michelin, +15.150 8. Loris Capirossi, Italy, Suzuki/Bridgestone, +32.505 9. Randy De Puniet, France, Honda/Michelin, +33.003 10. Nicky Hayden, United States, Honda/Michelin, +38.354 11. Marco Melandri, Italy, Ducati/Bridgestone, +44.284 12. John Hopkins, United States, Kawasaki/Bridgestone, +49.857 13. Shinya Nakano, Japan, Honda/Bridgestone, +49.871 14. Toni Elias, Spain, Ducati/Bridgestone, +58.532 15. Sylvain Guintoli, France, Ducati/Bridgestone, +58.930 16. Anthony West, Australia, Kawasaki/Bridgestone, +1:05.643 17. Chris Vermeulen, Australia, Suzuki/Bridgestone, +1 lap 18. Alex De Angelis, San Marino, Honda/Bridgestone, +6 laps Fastest lap: Stoner, 1:55.153, Lap 14 Pole lap: Lorenzo, 1:53.927 (track record)***
POINTS
Riders: Stoner 25, Lorenzo 20, Pedrosa 16, Dovizioso 13, Rossi 11, Toseland 10, Edwards 9, Capirossi 8, De Puniet 7, Hayden 6, Melandri 5, Hopkins 4, Nakano 3, Elias 2, Guintoli 1.
Manufacturers: Ducati 25, Yamaha 20, Honda 16, Suzuki 8, Kawasaki 4.
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PODIUM QUOTES
CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati/Bridgestone, winner): “That was a fantastic race, and I really enjoyed it. It was like being back in 125s! The first few laps were really hectic. There were guys bashing fairings, and I just tried to stay out of the way. When I got my chance to get through, I took it, and from there I just focused on setting my pace. Jorge (Lorenzo) rode brilliantly; it wasn't an easy race by any means, especially at the start. Over the first few laps I was struggling a bit for grip, but then the tires got up to temperature and improved. We knew we had a pretty good package for the race, but obviously we couldn't be sure that things would go as well as that. I want to say thanks to everybody at Ducati for a great job, my team, the guys at Bridgestone. Thanks everybody.”
JORGE LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Michelin, second): “I couldn’t have expected a better debut than this, and I am very, very excited to be on the podium. Second place is an amazing result for me, and I had great fun. The start and first few laps were a bit crazy and really a bit of a scary time for me, but anyway I managed to make it through and get past some riders to get to second. I started to go with Stoner, but after a while I became very tired and I started to have a lot of pressure and pain in my arms, so I really couldn’t push any more! He was faster than us, and I want to say congratulations to him because he deserved to win tonight. I think if I could have got a better start, maybe I wouldn’t have got so tired later on and I would have been able to keep a better rhythm. But I don’t think I can ask for more than this tonight. I want to thank Yamaha and Michelin for all the hard work they have put in over the winter to get me to this point, and of course my team for all of their work. I don’t want to start talking about the championship yet because this is only my first race, and now we will go to Jerez and do our very best again there and see what happens.”
DANI PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team Honda/Michelin, third): “Tonight’s result is unbelievable. We didn’t expect this, so I’m very happy. Seven days ago, I was almost last in the tests here, but my team have worked really hard, bringing both 2007 and 2008 bikes here and making many changes. They’ve been fantastic. For the first time, I understand the meaning and the legend of HRC, and I’m so proud to be part of this. They gave me a competitive bike, and the Michelin tires worked really good and I did my best on track. But without them, I couldn’t have been able to make it. My hand was quite bad from the middle of the race to the end. I couldn’t brake perfectly because my hand was shaking all the time, but I was able to finish the race and this is the most important thing because the hand should be in better condition at the next race. I made an unbelievable start; I couldn’t imagine getting a start like that. I overtook everybody on the way to the first corner, and from there I pu shed very hard. I couldn’t stay with Lorenzo and Stoner, so we still have to improve. But since last week’s tests, we’ve made an incredible step forward. Now we have a few weeks to recover full strength in the hand before Jerez.”
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AMERICAN RIDER QUOTES
COLIN EDWARDS (Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha/Michelin, seventh): “I didn’t leave anything out there tonight. If you paid me a million dollars, I couldn’t have gone any faster. I was riding my hardest, but at the end of the day, it just wasn’t fast enough. And to be honest, I’m not sure why. We’ll have to check the computer, but I just didn’t have the same feeling as I did yesterday. We had a great day yesterday, and going into the race I was confident about getting on the podium. But from the second lap, it became a race of adapting to cope with the different feeling I had from the tires. I was at the back of the group, and while they weren’t really pulling away, I couldn’t get any closer. I just didn’t have the confidence to push, and then I ran wide at the last corner while trying to keep close to the back of James (Toseland). I lost a bit of time, and I couldn’t catch back up. Thanks to my guys for they’re hard work, and we’ll try and move closer to the front in Jerez.”
NICKY HAYDEN (Repsol Honda Team Honda/Michelin, 10th): “It wasn’t pretty, for sure. We wanted more than just top 10, but we struggled here from the time we rolled out at the tests. We haven’t really made much progress, and it hasn’t been for a lack of effort. These guys have worked really hard. We got beat bad today, so we’ve obviously got a lot of work to do. I got a decent start, but I couldn’t push the way I wanted to, couldn’t be aggressive and couldn’t make anything happen. So I kind of went backward, then I went forward again. I was spinning a lot, which definitely didn’t do the rear tire any favors. I really think we just missed the setup and worked the tire way too hard, so I was spinning way too much. It honestly wasn’t the most fun race, but there’s still a lot of racing to go, so we’ll try and brush this one off and definitely try to move up at Jerez.”
JOHN HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki/Bridgestone, 12th): “The first half of the race felt good, and I was pretty comfortable running inside the top 10. But then, at about half-race distance, the performance of the front tire went off, and it started sliding in the turns. I had no option but to hold the bike up on my knee, but that put a lot of pressure on my injury. The pain built up very quickly, and by two-thirds distance, it was excruciating. If it had just been pain, then I could have ridden through it, but in the end I simply ran out of strength in the injured muscle, and I just couldn't maintain my lap times. It was hard to make it all the way to the end of the race, but although I'm disappointed not to have finished higher, at least I know that the injury wouldn't have been a limiting factor if it hadn't been for the tire problem. This gives me some confidence going into the next race at Jerez.”
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MotoGP SUPPORT CLASS WINNERS
250cc: Mattia Pasini, Italy, Polaris World Aprilia.
125cc: Sergio Gadea, Spain, Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia. American Stevie Bonsey failed to finish, eliminated from the race on Lap 5.
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NEXT RACE
Grand Prix of Spain, Jerez, March 30. Round 2 of 18.
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