Stoner dominates in Qatar
Added on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Stoner dominates in Qatar
Casey Stoner maintained his superb record in Qatar on Monday with a processional win in the 2009 MotoGP season opener.
The Australian, a winner at the last two races in Losail, was in unstoppable form under the floodlights in the hastily rearranged grand prix after Sunday was declared a complete wash-out.
Starting on pole and riding the new carbon-fibre Desmosedici for the first time competitively, Stoner never looked threatened as he edged further and further away from Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi with every passing lap, eventually finishing 7.771 seconds ahead of the world champion.
The result continued the 2007 champion’s dominance at the circuit and perhaps demonstrated the rider’s recovery from the wrist injury that ruined his 2008 challenge.
“I’m so pleased with this victory because it is fruit of the hard work done by everybody at Ducati over the winter,” said Stoner. “It has been difficult to work in such short sessions here this weekend and going into the race last night we took a gamble with a setting change that we weren’t sure about, but we got the opportunity to try it in warm-up and it felt great, so thank you to the team that worked really hard during the whole weekend. That gave me more confidence ahead of the race.
“We knew this circuit is demanding for fuel consumption and I had to adapt my style a little to keep the pace up and hold the advantage over Valentino but finally we didn’t have problems at all with it.
“My wrist felt 100% tonight but I still need to work on my overall fitness after the down time over the winter and I’m sure we can keep progressing.”
Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo secured the final podium place despite being 16.244sec off the pace, with Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards leading the rest of the field in fourth.
For Edwards’ teammate James Toseland however, it was yet another disappointment after a horrendous off-season.
Starting from 13th on the grid, the Brit looked capable of challenging for a top-ten finish early on before a tangle with Toni Elias on lap seven sent him running off into the gravel trap. Despite making it back onto the circuit, the Yorkshireman was forced to settle for 16th position with only rookie rider Niccolo Canepa behind him.
Andrea Dovizioso was the highest ranking Honda rider in fifth as Dani Pedrosa struggled on with his injury, finishing 11th.
MotoGP Championship 2009, Round 1, Losail, Qatar:
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Casey Stoner | AUS | Ducati | 42:53.984 |
| 2 | Valentino Rossi | ITA | FIAT Yamaha | +7.771 |
| 3 | Jorge Lorenzo | ESP | FIAT Yamaha | +16.244 |
| 4 | Colin Edwards | USA | TECH 3 Yamaha | +24.410 |
| 5 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | Repsol Honda | +27.263 |
| 6 | Alex de Angelis | SAN | San Carlo Gresini Honda | +29.883 |
| 7 | Chris Vermeulen | AUS | Rizla Suzuki | +33.627 |
| 8 | Mika Kallio | FIN | Pramac Ducati | +34.755 |
| 9 | Toni Elias | ESP | San Carlo Gresini Honda | +39.481 |
| 10 | Randy de Puniet | FRA | LCR Honda | +42.284 |
| 11 | Dani Pedrosa | ESP | Repsol Honda | +48.526 |
| 12 | Nicky Hayden | USA | Ducati | +48.883 |
| 13 | Sete Gibernau | ESP | Francisco Hernando Ducati | +52.215 |
| 14 | Marco Melandri | ITA | Hayate Kawasaki | +56.379 |
| 15 | Yuki Takahashi | JAP | Scot Honda | +1:00.286 |
| 16 | James Toseland | GBR | TECH 3 Yamaha | +1:14.978 |
| 17 | Niccolo Canepa | ITA | Pramac Ducati | +1:15.028 |
| R | Loris Capirossi | ITA | Rizla Suzuki | Crash |
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