FIM MotoGP World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar March 9, 2008 Race Results: 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 22 laps, 42:36.587 2. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, -5.323 seconds 3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, -10.600 4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, -13.288 5. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, -13.305 6. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, -14.040 7. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, -15.150 8. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, -32.505 9. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, -33.003 10. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, -38.354 11. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, -44.284 12. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, -49.857 13. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, -49.871 14. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, -58.532 15. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, -58.930 16. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, -65.643 17. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, -1 lap, pitted 18. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, -6 laps, DNF, crash FIM MotoGP World Championship Point Standings (After 1 of 18 races): 1. Stoner, 25 points 2. Lorenzo, 20 3. Pedrosa, 16 4. Dovizioso, 13 5. Rossi, 11 6. Toseland, 10 7. Edwards, 9 8. Capirossi, 8 9. De Punite, 7 10. Hayden, 6 11. Melandri, 5 12. Hopkins, 4 13. Nakano, 3 14. Elias, 2 15. Guintoli, 1 More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER STARTS TITLE DEFENCE WITH A WIN IN QATAR AS MELANDRI BATTLES HARD Casey Stoner savoured the Australian national anthem with his eyes firmly closed under the bright lights of Qatar after taking victory in the first night race in the history of the sport. The MotoGP World Champion started the defence of his title from fourth on the grid and had dropped to fifth by the end of the first lap, before charging through to set up a stirring battle with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. The Spanish rookie proved to be the most difficult obstacle between Stoner and his eleventh career MotoGP win but by the eighth lap Stoner was in control and little by little he opened out an insurmountable gap. Marco Melandri also produced a determined performance, overcoming the problems he has encountered over the weekend and setting a good pace – especially in the second half of the race. In the end he picked up solid points with eleventh place. CASEY STONER – 1st (Ducati Marlboro Team) “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 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 tyres 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.” MARCO MELANDRI – 11th (Ducati Marlboro Team) “I got a great start but a couple of riders got in my way and I lost some positions. That’s normal when you’re starting from so far back. Over the first few laps the feeling with the front wasn’t too good and when I passed Elias I ran pretty wide. The situation improved as the laps went by and I felt more stable and comfortable. The race was definitely the highlight of the weekend and that is really encouraging.” LIVIO SUPPO – MotoGP Project Director “Casey is unique… there’s nothing more to add to that. He didn’t even make the smallest mistake today and once again he showed why the number 1 is on his bike. Marco knew how to improve his pace from practice in the second half of the race and we’re sure today will have given him much more confidence in the tools available to him, so hopefully things can improve for him from here onwards. Our thanks as always go to all our partners, but especially Shell” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: 2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner began his title defence in style with victory in the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar the first ever MotoGP night race- ahead of Spaniards Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. The Ducati Marlboro rider started the race off the front row for the first time in his MotoGP career, chasing a repeat of his debut premier class victory from last year. Stoner didn’t have things all his way in the early going, but held off challenges from some of the favourites for the 2008 crown to win by over five seconds from Lorenzo. Behind the Australian, Fiat Yamaha rider and reigning 250cc World Champion Lorenzo followed up on his spectacular Saturday pole with a jaw-dropping debut MotoGP race. The Spaniard showed no fear in the face of a field packed with race-winners, joining Stoner in breaking away from the pack to take a maiden podium at his very first attempt. Another rider to step onto the rostrum in his first MotoGP race was Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa, who for the third consecutive year finished in the top three at the opening race of the year. The 2007 World Championship runner-up had to work for his reward, however, taking the holeshot from the third row of the grid and getting some rough treatment by the frontrunners in their attempts to break away. JiR Team Scot rider Andrea Dovizioso joined eternal adversary Lorenzo in making a fantastic 800cc debut, taking fourth place from five-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi on the final lap of the race. The former 250cc star picked off his fellow Italian after Rossi had dropped out of the running for third, both finishing just ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha’s front row duo of James Toseland and Colin Edwards in the former’s first Grand Prix. Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi, LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet and 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden completed the top ten, with De Puniet finishing a MotoGP race in Qatar for the first time. Chris Vermeulen was forced to return to the pits for a tyre change counting him out of the running for points, whilst the final debutant in the class Alex de Angelis, crashed out with five laps remaining. 250cc Mattia Pasini took a rookie victory in the 250cc showdown in Qatar, with a triumph well deserved after his tribulations in last year’s 125cc race. The Polaris World Aprilia rider emerged from a second row start and involvement in a four-way battle to determine the podium spots to snatch the lead in the quarter litre category race with two laps remaining. Pasini overtook eventual second place finisher Hector Barbera when the Pepe Team Toth rider was otherwise occupied with poleman Alex Debon, sneaking through on the inside. From there he pulled away to win the race by over half a second, with Red Bull KTM’s Mika Kallio rounding off the rostrum. Lotus Aprilia’s returning veteran Debon had to settle for fourth, agonisingly close to repeating his first career podium from the final race of last year. Just dropping out of the duel having given the frontrunners some problems in the early going, JiR Team Scot’s Yuki Takahashi came home in fifth, ahead of Aspar rider Alvaro Bautista who suffered a mechanical problem towards the end of the race that withdrew him from the fight for victory. 125cc Sergio Gadea became the first ever winner of a night time Grand Prix with victory in the 125cc class, beating Joan Olive and Stefan Bradl in an exciting season opener. The Bancaja Aspar rider overcame the pain of a shoulder injury to take a memorable triumph in his 70th race in the category. The race was a breathtaking affair, with the possibility of victory for any number of riders. The final laps saw retirements for Onde 2000 KTM’s Raffaele de Rosa and reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi; the former colliding with Olive whilst the latter was forced to pull over with a mechanical problem. Gadea and Olive having comfortably taking their podium places with late pushes to extend their respective advantages, the battle for the final rostrum spot became a hotly contested affair with a surprise winner. Grizzly Gas Kiefer rider Bradl pickpocketed Ajo Motorsport’s Mike di Meglio and Blusens Aprilia debutant Scott Redding as they tussled on the home straight, taking his first top three finish. DeGraaf Grand Prix rider Danny Webb joined British compatriot Redding in the top six, ahead of Simone Corsi, Pol Espargaro, Efren Vazquez and Nico Terol. Contrasting with the fortunes of Gadea, who could surely not have expected a win from the second row of the grid after a weekend of crashes and treatment, Polaris World poleman Bradley Smith suffered a repeat of the cruel misfortune suffered by the Aprilia team last year with former charge Mattia Pasini. After heading the practice and qualifying timesheets, Smith experienced a mechanical problem in the morning warm-up that recurred on the second lap of the 125cc showdown when he was leading the race. More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Capirossi battles to eighth in Qatar Loris Capirossi marked his debut with the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team by claiming a hard-earned eighth position at the first race of the season in Qatar. Starting from 13th on the grid, Capirossi fought his way through the field to eighth on lap five, maintaining that position for the rest of the 22-lap race. Capirossi came under heavy pressure in the final laps from Randy de Puniet, but the 34-year-old Italian used all his experience to fight off the challenge and preserve his place. Chris Vermeulen made a good start to the first-ever night race and improved on his grid position early on, but a suspected fault with his front tyre caused the Australian to pit. After rejoining the race with a new front tyre fitted, he tried to make up places to score valuable championship points, but finished the race just outside the scoring positions in 17th place. Today’s race was the first held under floodlights and the honour of being the first rider to win a Grand Prix on asphalt at night went to reigning World Champion Casey Stoner on his factory Ducati. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now moves back to Europe for the second round of the season on Sunday 30th March, to be held at Jerez in Spain. Loris Capirossi: “For sure I am not happy because our target is to fight for the podium or victories, and at the moment we are a bit off that. We tried to do our best in the race and compared to the test and the practices here this week we certainly went a little bit better in the race. We still have to continue to improve our entire package so we can be running at the front. I really want to thank my team because they gave me a good opportunity to try my best this weekend with the bike they prepared for me. We now have another 17 races left and we can certainly improve a lot in them!” Chris Vermeulen: “Not a great start to the season! I made a good start and got off the line well. I was in a good position, but I had an issue with the front tyre right from the first lap. It just didn’t work and after five laps it was completely destroyed, so I had to come in and get a new one fitted. We will have to look at it with Bridgestone and find out why it happened. After we replaced the tyre with the same spec one I went back out and just tried to stay out of everyone’s way. I ended up following Loris in his battle with de Puniet and I was comfortable doing those lap-times at the end when I had a decent front tyre in. It’s a shame really, and although I don’t think we had the pace to run with the front group I felt like I could have scored a lot more points than we have now.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Firstly we have to say that it was a proud moment for Suzuki and the team to see Loris make his first start in a Grand Prix on the GSV-R. It is no secret that we had a difficult test here a week ago and Loris’s 13th position on the grid didn’t make a top result easy. It was great to see him push so hard and fight his way through – unfortunately by the time he got to eighth position the lead group had gone and there was nothing more he could do other than maintain his position. He apologised to the team after the race for the result, but there was no need to do so he gave his maximum and I think we will have many better days than this one. “As for Chris we are all disappointed, so much so that it is difficult to put into words because without question he has the ability to challenge at the front. He made a great start and a good first lap to get himself into a good position, but suffered a very unusual problem with the front tyre that made the bike almost unrideable. He handled himself professionally and I’d like to thank him for getting back out out there in case there were any points to be had. “We now move to Jerez in a better frame of mind and in a better starting position than we were a week ago. We are certainly looking forward to building on our potential from there on!” More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Andrea Dovizioso is first Italian as he finishes an exciting 4th place in first 2008 race! Andrea Dovizioso attacked the Losail circuit tonight and took fourth place in an amazing race, in which he was always attacking. The 21-year-old Italian started in 9th position on the third row but always wanted to get to the front of the fight. Andrea battled hard in the final part of the race and eventually took fourth place following a very hard ride in the Losail darkness. After the previous sessions of the preceding days which didn’t show our rider’s value; the team found a technical configuration for the race which gave the JiR Team Scot rider a fast lap just 0.37 sec from the best at the circuit recorded in 2007. Tonight at Losail was a fantastic race for ‘The Silver Arrow’ now we look forward to Jerez. Gianluca Montiron Team Director, JiR Team Scot “My best compliments go to Andrea Dovizioso and all the team who this weekend did an exceptional job and at a very high professional level. We couldn’t have really made a better debut and Andrea’s last lap shows his determination! His fighting spirit, which showed that our rider to puts all his personality on the bike, shows we’re going to increase and do even better in the next races as our motivation increases.” Cirano Mularoni Team Manager, JiR Team Scot “It was marvellous to see Andrea race tonight. We suffered a little in qualifying, which didn’t give back to the team the result we expected, but looking forward to the race we knew we could be up there with the main protagonists. In warm up we evaluated new configurations and chose a front tyre which allowed Andrea to show his talent in a race with a lot of determination in a sporting, but aggressive way, but without Andrea trying to be too over aggressive!” Andrea Dovizioso Rider, JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V Overall position 4th “I’m very emotional for this first race. I never thought I would be so quick to finish so near the front and also become the first Italian rider home, which is great! I never really thought of the podium, as I seemed to start off not so good on the grid. Immediately after the start I pushed hard and tried to concentrate on the job in front, I was aiming at the train of riders just in front of me. Perhaps I asked a little too much of my Michelin tyre combination which behaved very well in the race. I want to thank the team for the fantastic job that they did over the weekend. We struggled a little in qualifying, but came out in a very good way when it was time for the race. We have shown that we are ready to do well in MotoGP with Honda and I look forward to the next race..” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO SHINES IN SECOND ON FANTASTIC MOTOGP DEBUT Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo sealed a weekend to remember in Qatar at the first ever MotoGP night race by finishing second on an impressive premier-class debut. The reigning double 250cc World Champion started from pole for the fifth consecutive year at this track, following three 250cc and one 125cc pole, and proved he will be a force to reckon with in 2008 with a mature ride to the runner-up spot behind Casey Stoner. Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi finished fifth after starting from seventh on the grid. Lorenzo made a tentative start and dropped several places from his starting position, crossing the line after the first lap in fourth. The first eight laps were something of a dog-fight with the front six riders trading places back and forth several times, but the Yamaha rookie kept his head through the melee and gradually worked his way forward, eventually passing Rossi to take second behind Stoner on lap 9. He hung on to the World Champion for a while but gradually the stress of the first part of the race took its toll and the 20-year-old began to tire and suffer pain in his arms. He eventually crossed the line 5.323 seconds behind Stoner but the same distance clear of third-placed Dani Pedrosa. Team-mate Rossi’s fifth-place meanwhile was added to by Yamaha Tech 3 riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards in 6th and 7th, making it four Yamaha’s in the top ten for the first race of the year. The MotoGP circus heads to Lorenzo’s homeland next for the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez on 30th April. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time: +5.323 Laps: “For sure 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! Anyway 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 anyway 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!” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “What a weekend! After a long winter it was great to finally arrive at the race and all of us in the team really enjoyed watching Jorge make such a fantastic debut. We couldn’t have asked for more and to do what he’s done here is really fantastic. From now on it will be easier for him because he will know what to expect from a MotoGP race, and of course we’ve also collected some important information about his race performance to help us to improve his package. Thank you to the team, to Yamaha and to Michelin for doing a great job throughout the winter and tonight and well done once again to Jorge.” Masahiko Nakajima Team Director “The biggest problem here has been the track temperature but Michelin did a very good job here to counteract a difficult situation and their tyres have worked very well. We managed to find a good set-up for Jorge and we are very pleased with his first race. It’s impressive that such a young rookie can do so well in such a tough race so a big congratulations to him for a brilliant second place.” More, from a press release issued by Michelin: THREE MICHELIN MEN IN TOP FOUR IN HISTORIC NIGHT RACE Michelin riders packed the front-running positions in tonight’s historic Qatar night race, with three Michelin men in the top four and all Michelin riders in the top ten at the end of a record-breaking race. The 22-lap event smashed the Qatar race record by almost half a minute with the top seven riders all inside last year’s record pace, thanks in part to the cool nighttime conditions which help engines run stronger and tires run cooler. Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) was arguably the star of the race, the rookie starting from pole position, battling for the lead with World Champion Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici) and eventually finishing his first MotoGP race in a superb second place. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) also defied the odds to finish a heroic third, battling the pain from his recently broken right hand. Lorenzo wasn’t the only MotoGP debutant to shine in the floodlit event, his former 250 rival Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) dazzled in the final stages, his Michelin tires giving him the grip he needed to beat Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1) in a thrilling last-lap duel. And reigning World Superbike champion James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) also had a storming start to his MotoGP career, finishing less than a second behind Rossi, just ahead of his teammate Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin). “We didn’t win tonight but we are quite happy with the result because we had so many riders fighting up front, proving the performance of our tires,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “Once again Casey was really fast but it was an exciting race with some interesting battles between the top riders. Lorenzo has been fast all weekend. It was great to see him take pole position yesterday, and today he was able to fight for the win for much of the race. Dani also rode brilliantly considering his injury. “We are really happy with all our rookies who give us great hope for the future. Andrea rode a fantastic race and we could see that the potential of his tires was still very high at the end of the race when he was able to overtake Valentino on the last lap. Toseland was also amazing and Edwards too. Their bikes weren’t as fast as the other Yamahas but they were able to battle with other factory machines, same as Dovizioso on his non-factory Honda.” After becoming the first MotoGP first-timer in a decade to start from pole, Lorenzo was delighted with his first MotoGP race. “I enjoyed it a lot, it was a great start to my career in this class!” said the Spaniard. “Yamaha are working hard, the bike gets more and more competitive, and Michelin are also working very hard, always giving me more grip and more feel.” Race Classification 1. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team), 42:36.587 2. Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team- Michelin), 42:41.910 (+5.323) 3. Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team- Michelin), 42:47.187 (+10.600) 4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP-Michelin), 42:49.875 (+13.288) 5. Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team), 42:49.892 (+13.305) 6. James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha- Michelin), 42:50.627 (+14.040) 7. Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha- Michelin), 42:51.737 (+15.150) 8. Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP), 43:09.092 (+32.505) 9. Randy DE PUNIET (LCR Honda MotoGP- Michelin), 43:09.590 (+33.003) 10. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team-Michelin), 43:14.941 (+38.354) 11. MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 43:20.871 12. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team) 43:26.444 13. Shinya NAKANO Honda Gresini 43:26.458 14. Toni ELIAS Alice Team 43:35.119 15. Sylvain GUINTOLI Alice Team 43:35.517 16. Anthony WEST Kawasaki Racing Team 43:42.230 17. Chris VERMEULEN Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43:11.483 More, from a press release issued by Honda: Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail: race Sunday March 9, 2008 MotoGP, 250GP and 125GP race report Weather: dry, warm Temperature: 18 degrees ambient, 19 degrees track Humidity: 68% Crowd: 5500 DANI DIGS DEEP TO SCORE PODIUM FINISH, DOVI FOURTH Reigning World Champion Casey Stoner (Ducati) ran away with this race when he took the lead at mid-race distance of this 22-lap encounter. Rookie and poleman Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) was second and the injured Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) a gritty third. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) made a stunning start to his premier class career too with a fourth place he stole from senior rider Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). This year’s new intake of 250 riders has made its mark early. Dani got the holeshot from row three making a fantastic getaway from eighth on the grid. He simply steamed past Stoner who looked most likely to enter turn one heading the pack. Yamaha men James Toseland and Colin Edwards were the other fast men off the grid. Rookie Lorenzo wasted no time in catching up with the leaders and by lap three Rossi too had got on terms, passing Lorenzo to take third place as Toseland and Edwards fell off the pace slightly. Dani was flying, setting a fastest lap of 1m 56.270s as he carved out a 1.4 second lead over his rivals. But it didn’t last. Stoner then began to close in ominously as Rossi stole the lead from Dani and Lorenzo then passed his sworn Spanish rival for second. Stoner held fourth on lap six with Dovi moving rapidly up the field too to fifth. At the midway point a seven rider group held sway at the sharp end, this still included Toseland and Edwards with a six second gap back to Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) in eighth, with Hopkins and then Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) who was never really on the pace here tonight. His team-mate was. Dani suffered a knock to his injured hand in a qualifying crash and a podium was a very acceptable result for a man who missed most of winter testing with that injury to his throttle hand. Stoner then upped the pace reeling off a series of fastest laps as he moved away from the opposition just as he had here in 2007. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V), Hayden and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) now lay tenth, 11th and 12th with Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) just behind. Stoner stretched his advantage over Lorenzo to 5.3 seconds at the flag with Dani a similar distance behind his ‘fellow’ Spaniard Lorenzo. If the podium places were settled before the last lap, the action for fourth was anything but relaxed. Dovi was working on Rossi on the penultimate lap, sizing up the multiple Champion before making his pass, only to have fourth snatched away from him again as the old master slapped the impudent student down. But Dovi was in no mood to pay too much respect to his elders and on the last lap he tried the same pass, Rossi responded again but ran wide into the next turn and the rookie seized his opportunity like the racer he is and slipped inside to hold the lead to the flag by just seven thousandths of a second as they tried to out-drag each other on the straight. The night-time race was a success itself, but equally encouraging has been the strong showing from the class rookies. The World Championship order is as per race order after only one race. Podium-placed Pedrosa said: “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 tyres worked really well and I did my best on track but without them I couldn’t have been able to make it. 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.” Fourth-placed Dovi said: “I’m very emotional for this first race. I never thought I would be so quick to finish so near the front and also become the first Italian rider home, which is great! I never really thought of the podium, as I seemed to start off not so good on the grid. Immediately after the start I pushed hard and tried to concentrate on the job in front, I was aiming at the train of riders just in front of me. We struggled a little in qualifying, but came out in a very good way when it was time for the race. We have shown that we are ready to do well in MotoGP with Honda and I look forward to the next race.” Nicky Hayden finished tenth and said: “It wasn’t pretty for sure. We wanted more than just top ten 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 kinda went backwards then I went forward again. I was spinning a lot, which definitely didn’t do the rear tyre any favours, I really think we just missed the set-up and worked the tyre way too hard so I was spinning way too much.” Randy De Puniet managed ninth place and said: “At the first corner of the race I had a big front-end slide and again at the second corner so I was not so confident and I took it a little easy for the first couple of laps and a lot of riders passed me. When I got into my rhythm I could run mid 1m 56 second laps. Towards the end of the race my rear tyre was sliding quite a lot. But the biggest problem for me was the first two laps, if I had not had the front end slides a top six finish was possible. Now we go to Jerez and I hope to get into the top six.” Nakano finished 13th and said: “We knew after free practice and qualifying that this was going to be a tough race for us. I lost a few positions at the start but started to make up ground after a few laps. By the end I was battling with the group in front and I reached 13th place. This isn’t the result we were hoping for so we have to improve next time. I’m confident for Jerez we’ve tested there and we have a lot of good data to work from.” His team-mate Alex de Angelis crashed out of contention on lap 17, without injury. He said: “I’m really disappointed with today’s race because it seems my bike was slower than the others on the straight, and I kept getting passed by riders coming out of my slipstream and overtaking me on top speed. Throughout the whole race I didn’t manage to get back on the pace I’d set all weekend here and in the tests a week ago and that’s disappointing because I’m sure I could have fought with the group in front. It’s a shame we didn’t come away with a result but we at least know we have potential.” 250cc Grand Prix Mattia Pasini won his debut 250cc Grand Prix in fine style from Hector Barbera (both Aprilia) with KTM rider Mika Kallio third. Pasini is the first rider since Honda star Dani Pedrosa to win first time out after stepping up from 125cc competition. Former 125cc World Champion for Honda Tom Luthi (Aprilia) took control of the race from the front into turn one but almost as soon as he established himself as the man to beat he was forced to take a ride through penalty for a jumped start. This wrecked his race entirely. Alvaro Bautista led with Hector Barbera second and Pasini third with Alex Debon (Aprilia) fourth. Barbera held a 2.313 second lead over his rivals on lap 13 of this 20-lapper, but by lap 16 a four-way dice for the lead had developed with Kallio closing up in fourth as Debon took the lead. The penultimate lap was vintage 250 racing. Debon lost out in the fight as Pasini took advantage when he and Barbera ran wide while battling for position and the Italian man held it to the flag. Yuki Takahashi (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) rode a fine race to fifth while Honda’s other representative in this class Ratthapark Wilairot (Stop And Go Racing RS250RW) scored points with 13th. Yuki Takahashi said: “I’m very happy because I didn’t think I’d be so fast. I got a very good start and quickly gained some positions and made contact with the lead group. Halfway through the race my rear tyre started to slide and it was difficult to maintain my rhythm. This fifth place is very important for me, and I have to thank the team and my mechanics. On the last lap I lost my rhythm because I was tired as I have not completely recovered my best physical condition.” Ratthapark said: “I’m really happy, because we have done a very good job, and these three points are a good reward, especially considering the high level of 250cc class this year. The race was fast and tough, I made a good start and I attacked from the beginning to arrive as soon as possible into the points. After several laps behind Faubel, I realized it would be very difficult to catch him, but I kept a strong pace to insure my position.” 125cc Grand Prix Sergio Gadea (Aprilia) won this 18-lap opening race of the season from Joan Olive (Derbi) with Stefan Bradl (Aprilia) rocketing through from fifth at the final turn to steal across the line in third ahead of Mike di Meglio (Derbi) and star rookie Scott Redding (Aprilia), who finished fifth. Bradley Smith (Aprilia) led into turn one from pole, the former Honda rider set the early pace before slowing on lap two with a temporary machine problem, dropping to 16th. Reigning Champ Gabor Talmacsi (Aprilia) dropped out of the running for the lead altogether on lap 14. Again the rookies shone brightly. British rider Scott Redding was a revelation and Louis Rossi (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) made a steadier start with 25th place. Rossi said: “I learned much this weekend and there is so much more for me to learn. I finished the race but I’m not happy with the result. In the first few laps with new tyres I do not have a good feeling with the bike but when the tyres start to wear and the bike moves about I am much more comfortable. When I found a good feeling my lap times were the same as in qualifying. The engine was good and the tyres too but I have to learn how to go fast from the first lap to the finish.” Honda rider quotes. Qatar GP race March 9. MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd. “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 tyres 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 pushed 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.” Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 4th. “I’m very emotional for this first race. I never thought I would be so quick to finish so near the front and also become the first Italian rider home, which is great! I never really thought of the podium, as I seemed to start off not so good on the grid. Immediately after the start I pushed hard and tried to concentrate on the job in front, I was aiming at the train of riders just in front of me. Perhaps I asked a little too much of my Michelin tyre combination which behaved very well in the race. I want to thank the team for the fantastic job that they did over the weekend. We struggled a little in qualifying, but came out in a very good way when it was time for the race. We have shown that we are ready to do well in MotoGP with Honda and I look forward to the next race..” Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 9th. “At the first corner of the race I had a big front end slide and again at the second corner so I was not so confident and I took it a little easy for the first couple of laps and a lot of riders passed me. When I got into my rhythm I could run mid 1m 56 second laps. But when I caught Capirossi I could get passed him but on the dirty part of the track where it was slippery and the front end wanted to turn in. If I passed him he could out accelerate me it was very difficult. Towards the end of the race my rear tyre was sliding quite a lot. But the biggest problem for me was the first two laps, if I had not had the slides a top six finish was possible. Now we go to Jerez and I hope to get into the top six.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 10th. “It wasn’t pretty for sure. We wanted more than just top ten 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 kinda went backwards then I went forward again. I was spinning a lot, which definitely didn’t do the rear tyre any favours, I really think we just missed the setup and worked the tyre 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.” Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 13th. “We knew after free practice and qualifying that this was going to be a tough race for us. I lost a few positions at the start but started to make up ground after a few laps. By the end I was battling with the group in front and I reached the 13th place. This isn’t the result we were hoping for so we have to improve next time. I’m confident for Jerez we’ve tested there and we have a lot of good data to work from.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: dnf crash. “I’m really disappointed with the today’s race because it seems my bike was slower than the others on the straight, and I kept getting passed by riders coming out of my slipstream and overtaking me on top speed. Throughout the whole race I didn’t manage to get back on the pace I’d set all weekend here and in the tests a week ago and that’s disappointing because I’m sure I could have fought with the group in front. It’s a shame we didn’t come away with a result but we at least know we have potential.” 250cc: Yukio Takahashi, JiR Scot Honda: 5th.”I am very happy because I didn’t think I would be so fast. I got a very good start and quickly gained some positions and made contact with the lead group. Halfway through the race my rear tyre started to slide and it was difficult to maintain my rhythm. This fifth place is very important for me, and I have to thank the team and my mechanics. On the last lap I lost my rhythm because I was tired as I have no completely recovered my physical condition . “ Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: “I’m really happy, because we have done a very good job, and these three points are a good reward, especially considering the high level of 250cc class this year. The race was fast and tough, I made a good start and I attacked from the beginning to arrive as soon as possible into the points. After several laps behind Faubel, I realized that would be very difficult to catch him, but I kept a strong pace to insure my position. This is a good result that repays the great effort made by everybody who is involved in that project, and we just have to continue this way.” 125cc: Louis Rossi, FFM Honda: 25th.”I learned very much this weekend and there is so much more for me to learn. I finished the race but I’m not happy with the result. In the first few laps with new tyres I do not have a good feeling with the bike but when the tyres start to wear and the bike moves about I am much more comfortable. When I found a good feeling my lap times were the same as in qualifying. The engine was good and the tyres but I have to learn how to go fast from the first lap to the finish.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner starts 2008 in style with Qatar win Round 1: Qatar Race Losail International Circuit, Monday 10 March 2008 Reigning MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner began his title defence in characteristic style with an impressive victory in Qatar on Sunday aboard his Bridgestone-shod Ducati. The win gives Stoner an eleventh MotoGP career victory and takes to twenty-one the total number of Bridgestone-shod wins in MotoGP. It was also the third season in a row that a Bridgestone-shod Ducati rider has taken the first win of the year. Stoner’s victory was another sublime performance in spite of challenging night-time track conditions at the Losail International Circuit which have made for a difficult weekend for Bridgestone. Nevertheless, Stoner defied the odds to set the quickest lap of the race, an impressive 1m55.153s, similar to the time he set on Bridgestone race tyres in Saturday free practice, which marked a massive 1.4s improvement over his existing lap record from 2007. In his debut race using Bridgestone tyres, Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi scored a hard-fought fifth place, while Loris Capirossi took an equally determined eighth place in his first race for Suzuki. Qatar has never been an easy venue for Bridgestone and this weekend has been no exception with a fundamental lack of grip in the cooler night-time conditions. Bridgestone will use the valuable lessons learned from this weekend to further develop its low temperature compounds, as well as its qualifying rubber, which also struggled for pace on Saturday. Hiroshi Yasukawa Director of Bridgestone Motorsport “Congratulations to the Ducati team and to Casey for another perfect performance in spite of the difficult conditions faced this weekend. It is a pleasure to see a Bridgestone-shod team and rider take the first win of the season and to start this competitive year with such success. We know it has not been easy here in Qatar, but we have done our best to supply each of our teams with the most competitive tyres possible. All our teams have given their maximum this weekend and our thanks go to each of them for their efforts.” Hirohide Hamashima Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Race Tyre Development “From a technical perspective, we have faced a tough challenge here at Qatar, so it is of course great to see Casey Stoner and the Ducati team take another win using our tyres. Generally, we have struggled for performance compared to our rivals, both with race and qualifying tyres. Casey was the only Bridgestone rider to get competitiveness from the race tyres over the full race distance, and he set some very impressive times, but the results from other riders on our tyres shows that we have more work to do on our low temperature compounds. We will also carry out an investigation with the Suzuki team to understand why Chris Vermeulen suffered a problem with his front tyre, something that we have not seen at any time over the race weekend or test.” Casey Stoner Ducati Corse Race Winner “At the start of the race, I hung back a bit because I wanted to wait until things calmed down a bit, keeping out of trouble and not losing pace with the front pack. Although qualifying did not go too well, we knew we had quite a good race pace, but this win is a fantastic result and I don’t think we really expected it. At the start, I lacked side traction and traction in general, but once the tyres warmed up, we could put in some good lap times. The rear grip was dropping towards the end of the race and we had a couple of front end slides, but as the fuel level dropped, the pace was still good.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Race Results and Tyre Choices Pos. Rider Team Race Time Gap Front Tyre (all 16.5”) Rear Tyre (all 16.5”) P1 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 42m36.587s Winner Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P5 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 42m49.892s +13.305s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P8 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m09.092s +32.505s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P11 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 43m20.871s +44.284s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P12 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 43m26.444s +49.857s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P13 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 43m26.458s +49.871s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P14 Toni Elias Alice Team 43m35.119s +58.532s Slick-Medium Slick-Soft P15 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 43m35.517s +58.930s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P16 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 43m42.230s +1m05.643s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium P17 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m11.483s +1 lap Slick-Medium Slick-Medium DNF Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 31m26.773s +6 laps Slick-Hard Slick-Medium Weather: Dry Air 18°C, Track 19°C, Humidity 58% (taken from official MotoGP timing) More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: UNEXPECTED STRUGGLE LEAVES ROSSI FIFTH IN QATAR OPENER The opening race of the MotoGP season and the championship’s first night race saw Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi finish a disappointed fifth tonight, after struggling for pace on the cold track throughout the 22 lap race. His young team-mate Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile took second on his MotoGP debut. Rossi, racing on Bridgestone tyres for the first time, made up two places on the opening lap and for the first few laps looked like he might be a contender for the top spots as he picked his way through the field. On lap five he took the lead and held onto it for three laps, but he was unable to ride his M1 as he wanted to and surrendered first place to Casey Stoner just three laps later. It was downhill for the Italian from then on as his pace dropped off and he began to slip back, unable to keep up with the leaders. Dani Pedrosa passed him for third and Rossi eventually became embroiled in a close battle for fourth with Andrea Dovizioso, with the rookie eventually running out the winner by just a fraction of a second. It was a good night for Yamaha in general however as Lorenzo’s podium, Rossi’s fifth position and sixth and seventh places from Tech 3 riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards made it four Yamahas in the top ten. The next stop for the paddock will be Jerez, Spain on 30th March for the second race of 18. Valentino Rossi Position: 5th Time: +13.305 Laps: “We expected a difficult race here, but actually not as difficult as this! We haven’t been fast here in Qatar since last week’s night test but, despite this, I thought we might be able to fight for the podium. Tonight however it was really difficult and now we have to understand the reason for this result. After five or six laps I started doing 56.4 and 56.5 and from then on I couldn’t improve on that pace until the end. I was very fast in braking, but not so fast in the corners. We know that we can make our Bridgestone tyres work better than this, because they are winning tyres and tonight they showed it once again. Throughout the winter, at all tracks, we were very fast and this is the only one where we were not. Now our task is to understand why this happened. We had a couple of ideas to try but in the end we decided to stick to what we know because we need some more time to understand how to improve and how to be faster. We know we can do better than this and so we just need to gather all the information and use it in the best way for the next race. Finally I want to say congratulations to Lorenzo for a great debut tonight; honestly I’m not surprised because I knew he was fast and talented, but he did very well tonight in a hard race so well done to him.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “It was a very interesting day, because it was our first race with Bridgestone and we knew we were in a difficult situation. We were able to collect a lot of information and now our engineers and technicians have the chance to evaluate this and we will have some new material from the Friday in Jerez. Bridgestone won the race and Yamaha went very well and improved a lot in respect to last year. The other three M1s were very fast and so with Valentino now we need to gather these two ingredients and then together we know we have big potential. Our aim now is to exploit the package in the best way, starting from the next race.” Masahiko Nakajima Team Director “This was our first experience of a night race and it’s been clear that the low track temperatures make controlling the tyre situation quite difficult. Added to that the low air temperatures mean that fuel consumption is also a worry. We spent a lot of time working with Bridgestone to try to find a good package but unfortunately we couldn’t do enough tonight. Now we need to investigate exactly what’s happened and act on it before the next race.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: DANI PEDROSA AND THE REPSOL HONDA TEAM PUT ON A SHINING PERFORMANCE LAST NIGHT IN QATAR Dani Pedrosa takes a valuable third place after a brilliant start and a tough race. Nicky Hayden finished 10th after a hard weekend The Qatar Grand Prix 2008 will go down in history as the first race disputed under the light of 1.000 floodlight towers, and also as the definitive revelation of a new generation of young riders arrived from the 250cc category. Casey Stoner, newcomer Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa have filled the first podium of the 2008 season after taking part in a spectacular and exciting race. Dani Pedrosa, overcoming a complicated pre-season with an injury in his right hand, and the slow development of his new bike, has taken in Qatar a third position that while does not taste of victory, does show the possibilities of his recovery and the improvement of the Repsol Honda Team. As the rider himself pointed out at the end of the race, in under a week, he and the team have managed to go down from riding at 1’58 on the Qatar track pre-season training sessions -, to doing it at 1’56 today during the race. The event kicked off with a stunning start by the Spaniard from the Repsol Honda Team, who after starting out from the third row on the grid was the first to the end of the straight. Imposing a fast and constant pace during the frist laps, Pedrosa managed to build an advantage of just over a second. But the chasing group, led by Italian Rossi and with Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, James Toseland and Andrea Dovizioso was pushing hard behind, and his advantage was reduced until they caught up with him in the fifth lap. From that moment on, Rossi took the lead and two laps later it was Lorenzo and Stoner who overtook the Repsol Honda Team rider, both at the end of the straight, taking advantage of their higher top speed. After overtaking Pedrosa, the Australian rider and Lorenzo went after Rossi, whom they also overtook. As more laps were completed, the two leading riders put more distance behind them, while Dani had a tough struggle with Rossi, who he overtook eight laps from the finish after a number of unsuccessful attempts. Once the Italian was behind and he was in third position, Pedrosa has started to distance himself lap after lap until he was over a second and a half ahead of the Italian, maintaining a valuable third position until the end of the race. Bearing in mind the difficulties Pedrosa and the team have gone through these last few weeks, the result is positive as a start to the 2008 season. The race was won by Australian Casey Stoner. The unlucky day was for the American Repsol Honda Team rider Nicky Hayden. Starting out sixth, Hayden completed his first lap in eighth position. Uncapable of keeping up with the pace of those in the leading group, the 2006 World Champion started losing positions and riding throughout most part of the race alone, finially crossing the finish line in tenth position. Undoubtedly a bad result for the aspirations of the Repsol rider, who hoped to get more points in this opening race. In spite of it, Hayden has gone through a tough week with six points in his scoresheet, the provisional tenth position in the general classification, and aware that there will be better races where he can show his team’s and his own potential. In the 250cc category, Julián Simón was unable to finish the Grand Prix with a good performance. The Repsol rider still felt uncomfortable on the Qatar track, and finished 11th in a Grand Prix which will not leave him with particularly good memories. Simón started from the fourth row, and in the first three partials managed to overtake three rivals, crossing the line in eleventh position while Luthi, Kallio Bautista and Barberá took the lead. After some laps, Simón lost a position, troubled by problems in his forearm which started last season. In the end, he managed to recover a place and scored the first five points of the season. Finnish Mika Kallio maintained yesterday’s imrovement in the timed session, and fought for the lead throughout the race. He was finally fourth under the checkered flag. Hiroshi Aoyama, who like Simón had problems, was 16th. Bad luck in the quarter-litre category for Esteve Rabat, in a race which was finally won by Spaniard Sergio Gadea. The Repsol rider had the doubtful honour of being the first rider to fall during the first night race in motorcycling history. Rabat, who started on the third row, got off to a magnificent start, reaching the end of the straight in fourth position. However, on the fifth curve, Rabat was brushed by Raffaele de Rosa when he tried to overtake on the inside. The Repsol rider hit the ground, hitting hard the collarbone he had an operation on at the end of January. In spite of the fall, he re-entered the race and finally finished in 24th position. Quotes MotoGP Dani Pedrosa >> 3rd at 10.600 secs. “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 tyres 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 pushed 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.” Nicky Hayden >> 10th at 38.354 secs. “It wasn’t pretty for sure. We wanted more than just top ten 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 kinda went backwards then I went forward again. I was spinning a lot, which definitely didn’t do the rear tyre any favours, I really think we just missed the setup and worked the tyre 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.” 250cc Julián Simón >> 11th at 41.457 secs. “This weekend hasn’t been too good. Things haven’t gone as planned, it’s a shame and we can only look forward to Jerez. I feel really bad for the team, because I gave it my best but the result evidently doesn’t correspond. We have a great bike, though we weren’t able to enjoy it on this track. This is just the beginning of the season, and though I’m aware that we haven’t started too well, I think that all together we can turn this situation around, and in Jerez we’re going to fight for the victory. Like last year, I’ve had pains in my forearm. I had an operation after Valencia, but I’ve had a tough race. I think the actual result of the race made me nervous and blocked me even more. We’re going to look into it so it doesn’t happen again in Jerez.” 125cc Esteve Rabat >> 24th at 56.440 seconds. “It’s been a complicated weekend, but the important thing was that I was improving each time I went on the track. During the first free training sessions I finished 20th, yesterday I managed to finish 11th in the timed session, then in the warm-up I finished 10th, and on the first curve I was 4th. But on the second curve to the left, De Rosa brushed me and knocked me over. He rammed in and hit me on my bad shoulder, which hurts slightly. Then I got up again and finished the race, though with some difficulty. Now we’re thinking about Jerez and we’ll see if we can be in there among the leading riders.” More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: MotoGP RACE REPORT: GRAND PRIX OF QATAR Stoner opens title defense with historic victory under lights INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, March 9, 2008 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. *** 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. *** 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.” *** 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.” *** 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. *** NEXT RACE Grand Prix of Spain, Jerez, March 30. Round 2 of 18. *** Red Bull Indianapolis GP tickets: Tickets are on sale for the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 14, 2008. Tickets can be purchased either online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time; on the phone by calling (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or (317) 492-6700 locally between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday; or visiting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ticket Office on the first floor of the IMS Administration Building at 4790 W. 16th St. in Indianapolis from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. All tickets for this event are three-day tickets, with both reserved and general admission seating available. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: HARD NIGHT FOR KAWASAKI IN QATAR The 2008 MotoGP World Championship got off to a nail-biting start today at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. The first race of the year saw new faces and old hands battling it out for podium places, providing some of the most gripping premier class racing for some time. Kawasaki’s John Hopkins started the night on great form, finishing fourth overall in the early-evening warm up, and things were looking positive as the #21 rider got a solid start when the race began at 23:00 hours, local time. He made it up to ninth position in the first few laps but, as the race continued under the extensive floodlights of the 5.38km circuit, he began having problems with front-end grip. Having to fight the bike and hold it up on his leg, the pain of his injured abductor muscle took its toll and he started losing time. Hopper eventually finished the race in 12th place, picking up four championship points. It was a heroic effort by the 24-year-old Anglo-American, riding at considerably less than peak fitness and, although frustrated not to have finished further up the field, his performance gives an indication of what he will be capable of when he returns to full health and track conditions improve in warmer climes. Meanwhile, Hopkins’s team mate, Anthony West, also had a hard race, starting from the back of the grid after a difficult weekend in which he struggled to find his form on the Ninja ZX-RR. Having crashed during the weekend’s earlier practice sessions, his confidence had dropped and he, like his team mate, struggled with the tricky conditions on the track, caused by low night time temperatures in the Qatari desert. The 27-year-old Australian crossed the line in 16th position at this, the start of his first full season in MotoGP. Whilst it wasn’t the night that Kawasaki was hoping for, lessons have been learned and injuries will hopefully soon be fully healed, enabling the squad to be on top form at the next round at Jerez, Spain, on 30th March. John Hopkins Kawasaki MotoGP Pilot #21 – 12th “The first half of the race felt good, and I was pretty comfortable running inside the top ten. But then, at about half race distance, the performance of the front tyre 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 tyre problem. This gives me some confidence going into the next race at Jerez.” Anthony West Kawasaki MotoGP Pilot #13 – 16th “What can I say? Obviously I’m bitterly disappointed with my result today, because I’m not here to finish at the back of the field. I was suffering with the same problems I had in practice and qualifying and I still didn’t feel totally comfortable on the bike. At around half race distance I started to feel more confident, and in some sections of the circuit I was much faster than Guintoli and Elias, who were in front of me. Through the final section I could get right alongside them, but I just didn’t have enough speed to pass. And then, as soon as we hit the straight, they cleared off. This has been a weekend to forget, but I need to put it behind me now and focus on the next race at Jerez.” Michael Bartholemy Kawasaki Competition Manager “It’s been a difficult weekend for us, as throughout practice we struggled with the track conditions. But then John’s fourth fastest time during this evening’s warm-up session meant that we went into the race with increased expectations of a good result. Things were looking good, but then John’s front tyre went off, and he struggled to compensate due to his groin injury. But even then he didn’t give up; I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone lifted off a bike in so much pain at the end of a race. He’s one hard rider. Anthony is obviously disappointed with his performance this weekend, but he needs to avoid the temptation to beat himself up over it, and instead focus on regaining his form for the next race at Jerez. We know he’s capable of much more, and I hope he will fulfil his potential properly next time out.”