With 106 points and two victories each from six races so far this season, the three gladiators that stand together at the top of the MotoGP World Championship stood side by side on the podium at Catalunya today, each having written their own page in another thrilling chapter of motorcycling history. Whilst Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo fought a fantastic battle for victory to the final corner, Casey Stoner had to fight his own battle against illness to secure a priceless third place. The Ducati Marlboro Team rider was so debilitated by stomach cramps that he was barely able to sleep last night and at the halfway stage of the race today he considered something that for him is unthinkable – giving up. However, after a weekend of hard work from Stoner and his crew, which continued until after this morning’s warm-up, the Australian knew that the perfect set-up of his GP9 could help him and he steeled himself for a final push. That he set the fastest lap of the race is testament to the fact that he would otherwise have been involved in that epic fight for victory.

Tenth place for his team-mate Nicky Hayden, added to ninth for Mika Kallio, made it three Ducatis in the top ten today, demonstrating the improving performance of the machine. Hayden had every reason to be satisfied with the result and he is now looking forward to returning to the track tomorrow for the first of two of post-GP tests this season, the second of which will follow the Czech round at Brno in August.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd
“I haven’t felt in great shape all weekend – I wasn’t ill but I wasn’t quite myself. Then last night I couldn’t sleep, I probably got a couple of hours at the most, and after just a couple of laps this morning I was destroyed. I decided to race myself, basically, and bring home as many points as I could manage but my bike was fantastic and that is why I was able to ride it to a really valuable podium. The team did a perfect job after the warm-up and if I wasn’t so ill, I think I could have stayed with Valentino and Jorge until the end, although I’m not saying I could have beaten them. I started to suffer from really strong cramps and I could barely ride – I was falling over the front of the bike in the hard-braking areas and I was struggling to keep my concentration. I thought about stopping but decided to just back off for a while and try to hang on for a top ten. The bike was so good that I was able to keep up a decent pace and hold off Dovizioso. Tonight I’ll try to get plenty of rest and recover my strength for the test tomorrow because this is an important period in the championship and we need to test. After that it’s Assen and I’m already looking forward to it.”

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 10th
“I was hoping for a little more than this but realistically at the moment it was the best I could manage. I started from near the back but kept passing people and made progress throughout the race. I got close to Kallio and tried my best to pass him but made a couple of mistakes and he beat me. All in all it’s not a spectacular result but it is definitely a step forward. I’ve been close to the front guys all weekend, we’ve worked well and we’ve learnt a lot about the bike. I’m already looking forward to getting back on the bike for the test tomorrow and continuing to work down this path, which we think is the right one.”

LIVIO SUPPO –Ducati MotoGP Project Director
“Casey was outstanding today – he certainly wasn’t in top physical condition but once again he gave it absolutely everything. He set the fastest lap of the race and for as long as he was physically able he was right there with Valentino and Jorge, who have otherwise been one step ahead of us all weekend. The team also did a great job to make some changes after the warm-up and get the bike in the right shape. So today is a third place that actually means more than that, like Jerez. As far as Nicky is concerned we’re starting to reap the fruit of a lot of hard work. It was a much more positive weekend than Mugello, from his sixth fastest time on Friday right through to a top ten finish today. We just need to shave a few tenths more off his lap time and that will be the objective for us in the test tomorrow.”

Podium GP Catalunya 2009
1st Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 2nd Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), 3rd Casey Stoner (Ducati)
Fastest lap: Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1’42.858

Circuit Record: Dani Pedrosa (Honda – 2008), 1’42.358 – 166.251 Km/h
2009 Pole: Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), 1’41.974 – 166.877 Km/h
Best Pole: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’41.186 – 168.177 Km/h

Riders World Championship
1st Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 106 points; 2nd Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 106; 3rd Casey Stoner (Ducati) 106; 4th Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 69; 5th Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 67; … 15th Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 19.

Constructors World Championship
1st Yamaha (140 points); 2nd Ducati (106); 3rd Honda (89); 4th Suzuki (60); 5th Kawasaki (50)

These are the results from the MotoGP – Sunday Morning practice at LaMans in France. 2009 the race is on….

Pos. # Rider, Team – Bike – Lap

1 99 Jorge LORENZO, Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha – 1′35.247
2 27 Casey STONER, Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati 1′35.439
3 46 Valentino ROSSI, Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha 1′35.522
4 3 Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – Honda 1′35.725
5 5 Colin EDWARDS, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha 1′35.774
6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Repsol Honda Team – Honda 1′35.971
7 15 Alex DE ANGELIS, San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda 1′36.014
8 33 Marco MELANDRI, Hayate Racing Team – Kawasaki 1′36.031
9 52 James TOSELAND, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha 1′36.294
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN, Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati 1′36.390
11 7 Chris VERMEULEN, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki 1′36.482
12 14 Randy DE PUNIET, LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda 1′36.588
13 65 Loris CAPIROSSI, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki 1′36.768
14 72 Yuki TAKAHASHI, Scot Racing Team MotoGP – Honda 1′36.824
15 36 Mika KALLIO, Pramac Racing – Ducati 1′37.572
16 24 Toni ELIAS, San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda 1′37.618
17 88 Niccolo CANEPA, Pramac Racing – Ducati 1′37.683

The MotoGP World Championship has arrived in Japan much earlier than usual, with the Motegi circuit hosting the second round of the season as opposed to one of the decisive later races, and the springtime temperatures provided the teams and riders with a fresh challenge ? figuratively and literally speaking ? out on the track, and with 45 minutes available in today?s first free practice session, Ducati MotoGP pair Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden had to work quickly on the set-up of their Desmosedici machines.

Stoner was fast from the moment the red lights turned to green and after just a handful of laps he was already top of the time sheets with a good advantage over the rest of the field. However, the gap steadily reduced over the course of the session and the Australian was dislodged in the final moments by Valentino Rossi. Hayden, who headed into the action with the stitches he had inserted into his chest, shrugged off the discomfort to turn in a productive afternoon?s work, building on the progress made with his own GP9 set-up during the race in Doha.

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) 2nd (1?48.601)

“We?re not too far from setting some very decent lap times and considering how cold it was this afternoon I think everything has gone as well as we could have expected. It looks as though the weather forecast is not good for tomorrow so this session might not turn out to be so important in terms of qualifying, but then if it?s dry again on Sunday it could turn out to be crucial. In general the bike feels quite good – we need to try and find a bit more grip on the rear and we have a few ideas that we think could work ? but now it?s just a case of seeing what the heavens throw at us tomorrow and dealing with that as best we can.”

NICKY HAYDEN ? (Ducati MotoGP Team) 13th (1?50.393)

?The track was quite slippery when we first went out and the air felt so cold, with the humidity, it felt like it could rain any second. We certainly had to be careful getting some heat into the left side of the rear and into the front. We tried a few things out with the set-up ? I ran both bikes and worked in the direction we?d found in Qatar, where the balance of the bike had felt much better in the later laps, with less fuel on board. Obviously the lap time isn?t great but we improved with every run and pretty much every lap, we got a good number laps in just in case it does rain tomorrow and we worked out a basic direction we need to take for the race, so I?m satisfied. ?

Good news, an elusive creature sometimes. This is what I have for today and I must confess that in this case it’s the BBC who did the job ‘the right way’ in my opinion.

In the soap opera ‘the MotoGP Paddock turns’ there are a couple of riffs going on. One long standing falling out has apparently resolved – Rossi VS Gibernau, and I’m really glad because it always seemed a bit below Rossi’s usual stature.

The other, not going as well is the pit split at Tech3. In a much-publicized turn of events the crews that worked for Edwards and Toseland were swapped in an apparent attempt to help Toseland get up to speed. I really can’t figure out the thinking behind this because it seems like it could only cause hard feelings all the way around. The reported logic is that Toseland was unable to work with his engineer. The engineer was apparently deemed competent so they moved him over to the Edwards side as Collin seemed happy to work with anyone. Well, apparently not. At least not under those terms. At the end of the day it is management that is ultimately responsible for this and I didn’t see how Collin’s decision not to talk to Toseland is supposed to fix that. He has, in fact, convinced the team to actually separate the two riders in the pit by a wall. Yeah – a physical wall.

Edwards skipped country pretty fast but I’ve had the opportunity to talk to him on a few occasions and he always comes off as very low key, easy going and even-keeled. Yet another clue that this wasn’t handled correctly is the fact that Collin is still yanking the paint off Toseland’s bike in every session; so what’s changed? Who is supposed to be happy? Edwards, who got the ‘unsuccessful crew’? The crew, who has been deemed unsuccessful? Toseland, who can only ride if he gets his own way (and then stayes exactly where he was in the first place)? The other crew, that was having success with Collin and now has to move to the “problem child?” I don’t mean any dispersions towards Tosland but isn’t that what they (Tech3) are saying?

Never fear! Ducati is here to save yet another day! This is what the BBS had to say, and it isn’t the last you’ll hear from us on the subject, either.

“There had already been a sense of anticlimax on Thursday when Valentino and Sete Gibernau publicly made their peace over a bitter row that started, ironically, at Qatar back in 2004.

It was the first ever race to be run here and Vale was forced to start from the back of the grid after a complaint from Sete’s Honda team that Jeremy Burgess and his crew had swept his grid position clean.

Valentino crashed out trying to recover positions in the race and, when Sete took victory, Rossi swore he would make sure the Spaniard would never win another race – a promise he stuck to in their most public falling out at Jerez in 2005, when he punted him off the track on the final corner.

Sete announced his retirement at the end of 2006, marrying a supermodel and disappearing into the ether before divorcing and returning to MotoGP as a test rider last year. When he announced he was coming back full-time for 2009, we were all looking forward to some unfinished business getting sorted out.

“Honestly, I’m really happy to have Sete back,” said Vale, disappointing the hacks but without doubt echoing the sentiments of the entire paddock.

“Some of my hardest battles have been with him and I wish him luck. Hopefully he can be at the front again – not in front of me, but at the front – and I think we can be friends again.”

“We’ve all matured since then and I’ve come back with my hand outstretched to Valentino and to everybody else,” said Sete.

“I’m proud of the way I’ve been welcomed back and proud that Valentino says he had to ride on the limit against me in the past. I think he’ll be champion again this year.”

The pair had actually already kissed and made up – metaphorically speaking of course – in an impromptu phone conversation last summer when Sete was visiting his friend Fonsi Nieto, the former 250cc and WSBK rider, in Ibiza.

The Spanish pair were having dinner when Fonsi received a call from Valentino, who owns a house on the island.

Fonsi cheekily passed the phone to Sete without telling either who was on the other end. “It was a bit confusing and he caught us both out,” recalls Sete. “We talked for a little while and we’ve been in touch a couple of times since.”

Friendly rivalry is an essential part of racing and while it may have overstepped the mark at Tech 3 Yamaha, where Colin Edwards and James Toseland are still not talking, there is very much the opposite vibe going on a few doors down the pit-lane at Ducati.

Nicky Hayden suffered a 130mph high-side during qualifying on Saturday and when Casey Stoner returned to parc fermé at the end of the session to be congratulated and interviewed on his pole position, his first question to his mechanic before he’d even taken his helmet off was about the welfare of his team-mate.

As soon as the front-row press conference was over, Casey headed straight down to the medical centre to see Nicky, who was laid on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face. Casey asked him how he was and Nicky pulled the mask to one side to say: “Well I don’t feel like going for a jog, that’s for sure!”

Despite heavy bruising to his back and three stitches in a chest wound Nicky bravely made it to the grid for his 100th Grand Prix start.” the BBC

Stoner Ran the Weekend in Qatar, this is what they had to say….

Casey Stoner took a dominant victory in the opening round of 2009 MotoGP World Championship and his third in consecutive years at the Grand Prix Qatar in tonight’s rescheduled race under the floodlights of Losail. With torrential rain forcing the postponement of the original contest last night, the riders returned to the track today for a 20-minute warm-up at 1830h ahead of a 2100h start. The nervous wait didn’t seem to affect the Australian, who launched from pole position to lead the entire distance, maintaining his searing pace in the second half of the race to keep the chasing Valentino Rossi at bay.

Nicky Hayden produced an equally impressive display and whilst the result was not as spectacular as Stoner’s his determination certainly was. The American suffered a heavy crash during Saturday’s qualifying session that left him nursing an extremely sore back and three stitches in his chest but he valiantly battled through to take twelfth place, almost snatching eleventh from Dani Pedrosa on the line with an exciting late charge.

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) 1st

“I’m so pleased with this victory because it is fruit of the hard work done by everybody at Ducati over the winter. 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 week-end. That gave me more confidence ahead of the race. We knew this circuit is demanding for fuel consumpionts 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.”

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati MotoGP Team) 12th

“It’s been a tough weekend and we’ve had a lot of issues” obviously a 130mph high-side doesn’t help things but nothing really went smooth. In the beginning of the race I was quite slow, I didn’t get a great start but actually as the fuel load changed and I got a better feeling I got faster and faster and the last five or six laps were my fastest of the whole weekend. It would have been nice to nick Dani at the end there but I think the team have showed that even though a lot of stuff has gone against us this weekend we’re not going to give up. Hopefully the bad stuff is behind us now and Casey has shown the potential of the bike, so crazy as it sounds I’m leaving here in a really positive mood and looking forward to Motegi.

————————————————–

Fiat Yamaha pair open account with double podium in Qatar

Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo put in a strong opening showing for the Fiat Yamaha Team tonight, finishing second and third under the Qatar floodlights after the race was delayed 24 hours following last night’s heavy rain. Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards brought his M1 home in fourth, making it three Yamaha’s in the top four, with Casey Stoner taking the race win.

Starting from second on the grid, Rossi lost some ground at the start and was passed by Loris Capirossi and then Lorenzo. He had passed his team-mate back by the end of the first lap and on lap three he despatched Capirossi, but by that time Stoner was already some three seconds clear. The world champion set off in pursuit and after ten laps had closed the gap to less than two seconds, but the wear and tear from pushing so hard on his Bridgestone tires was beginning to tell and he wisely chose to settle for the safe option and twenty points, crossing the line 7.771 seconds adrift.

His team-mate Lorenzo, who finished second here last year in what was his first MotoGP race, rode a spirited race from the third grid spot. He slipped down to sixth at one point but found his rhythm and fought back to pass Edwards, Capirossi and eventually Dovizioso to take the final podium spot, a further eight seconds behind Rossi.

Round two of the MotoGP World Championship takes place at Motegi in Japan in just under two weeks time.

Valentino Rossi – Position: 2nd Time: +7.771
“So I think it’s definitely more fun to race on a Monday than test, like last year! Today the conditions of the track were quite different to before and this evening in warm-up we encountered a couple of small problems related to tires, so our strategy had to change slightly tonight. It’s a pity because I think last night we could have put up more of a fight, but anyway this is a good result to start the season, much better than last year. I knew I needed a good start in order to go with Stoner but unfortunately I didn’t get one and I lost some time fighting with Lorenzo and Capirossi and by then Stoner had already gone! The middle part of the race was great fun and I made six or seven good laps to come much closer, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to continue in that rhythm, it was too risky for the tires and I decided it was more important to take the 20 points. Casey was very strong today but he is always fast here and I believe that our potential is very good; I think that we can be back fighting again in Motegi. I am so glad we could race today after yesterday and I am satisfied to be leaving here having made a good start to the season – it is long!”

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 3rd Time: +16.244
“I am so happy to be on the podium tonight, I really enjoyed some parts of the race when I made some good overtakes and felt confident enough to take some risks. The grip of the track was better tonight but my rear tire was moving from the start, so this is something we need to address and improve. Apart from the result and the points it is clear we have some work to do because our pace tonight was too far off Rossi and especially Stoner. The gap is too big! After yesterday’s crazy weather I am really happy we could race, it was very important for everyone and now we have got the season underway with a good result, my aim is to be much closer to the leaders in Motegi.”

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“We didn’t win but we can consider this a good start to the season, certainly much better than in 2008. Now we need to work to fix one or two small problems that we have. The middle part of the race was good, we were gaining on Stoner but in the latter stages he was in a better condition to push and Valentino was right to settle for second. It’s a long championship and the points are important. We are confident that we will be able to battle with Stoner in Motegi.”

Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager
“We are happy with the result because we have started the season well and this is very important, especially with so many rule changes to get used to. It is clear that we have some hard work to do in order to close the gap on the leaders and that we need to improve our setting further, so this will be our target for Motegi. Well done to everyone for the effort to get the race run tonight, it was very important to have the chance to compete.”

——————————————————————

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s Chris Vermeulen equalled his best-ever result at Losail in Qatar tonight by racing his Suzuki GSV-R to seventh place.

Vermeulen got a good start from the third row of the grid and was up with the leading group early on. As the race settled down he was involved in a number of battles with various riders and fought all the way to the line to score his – and Rizla Suzuki’s – first points of the 2009 MotoGP season.

Loris Capirossi had a less successful race, as he crashed out on lap eight. Starting from fifth on the grid Capirossi got off the line very well and was up into second place by the first corner – a position he held for the first two laps. As the race wore on he experienced a dramatic loss in front tire performance and eventually lost the front-end of the bike and crashed. Suzuki’s tough Italian walked away unhurt from the high-speed crash and will be fit for the next round in two week’s time.

Today’s race was held in dry and fine conditions with track and air temperatures both in the 20ºCs, stark contrast to yesterday’s torrential downpour that led to the race being postponed and rescheduled for today. Ducati’s Casey Stoner led the race from start to finish to record his third successive victory at the Qatari circuit.

Rizla Suzuki now travels to Suzuki’s home Grand Prix in Japan, which will be held at the Motegi Twin Ring Circuit on Sunday 26th April.

Chris Vermeulen:

“I made a good start and got into a good group of guys straight away and I was hoping to stay there. The track conditions were a bit different to what it had been all weekend and it was very different to the test which was how I had the bike set-up, and to be honest I really struggled for front-end feeling. Towards the end of the race the rear tire performance dropped off as well so that’s something we’ve really got to work on. It’s hard though with the lack of testing in race conditions and also on race weekend’s with the sessions being shorter and there being less of them, it makes it very difficult to put race distance on the tires and to iron out any other problems. It was not the result we wanted because we were hoping to be in the top-five. We have got quite a bit of work to do to catch up to the podium so we need to put our thinking caps on and go to Motegi and have a better performance!”

Loris Capirossi:

“I feel really sorry for the whole team, because all winter we have worked so hard and have gone quite well so this was hard to take. It was really strange today because our practice has been good, but in this evening’s warm-up I had a big problem with chatter, this hadn’t happened all weekend and then during the race it was the same. The front tire didn’t work like normal either, I had done 25 to 30 laps on the same tire with no problems and the feeling had always been good, but today after just five laps it felt like it was destroyed! This race is over now and we have to concentrate on the next one and find out why the things that happened today occurred.”

Paul Denning- Team Manager:

“Without doubt it was the right thing for MotoGP to stay on and race here at Qatar tonight, but unfortunately for Rizla Suzuki our bike worked quite differently than it had done all weekend for both riders. We suffered from a serious lack of front grip and some bad vibration which restricted both the guys. Clearly some of our competitors were far less affected by the different conditions and the Team – and Factory – will be working very hard to understand the difference in performance between tonight and the rest of the weekend. We will now go to Motegi and push 100% to perform a lot better at Suzuki’s home GP!”

————————————————————-

LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy De Puniet finished in 10th position the night race at Qatar floodlit track. With a track temperature of 26°C the premier class riders got underway the first GP of the 2009 season at 21:00 local time after the cancellation of yesterdays race due to a rainstorm which is unusual for the desert circuit. Following on from an impressive practice session, Stoner won the opening round followed by Yamaha riders Rossi and Lorenzo.

After Saturday’s positive qualifying session (7th place), the Frenchman aboard the Honda RC212V nr. 14 started from the third row for the 22-lap event ending the first lap in 7th position but he struggled with front tire for the whole race and managed to finish in the top ten.

De Puniet – 10th
De Puniet: “I am a bit disappointed because I expected a better result after my performances in the practice sessions. I made a good start and after that I thought that the race was easy for me. But suddenly I started to suffer grip problems on my front tire. It was a bit dangerous and did my best to manage the race like this. It’s strange as I did not have this feeling during the whole week end and it was like riding on a soft tire. My target was the top ten but I could get a better result in different conditions. Anyway we will analyse the data to be more competitive in Japan”.

—————————————————————-

Superb win for Stoner in Qatar Monday night race

As the action in the premier class of the 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship finally got underway, at the spectacular Losail International Circuit on Monday night, it was Casey Stoner who took the headlines, completing a hat-trick of season-opening wins at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.

Following the exceptional postponement of the opening MotoGP contest of the year due to rain in the Arabian desert, Monday night witnessed the first race in the new single tire supplier era, but it was a familiar story with Stoner crossing the line first, ahead of World Champion Valentino Rossi.

A ruthless Stoner took the holeshot from pole and had built up a two second gap at the end of the first lap. The 2007 World Champion’s victory never looked in serious doubt as he controlled the race from the front, having been the fastest rider in every session over the weekend. His winning margin was more than seven seconds at the end of a brilliant performance, casting aside any doubts about his fitness after winter surgery on his left wrist.

Completing the podium behind the front two was Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha colleague Jorge Lorenzo repeating his rostrum result from his MotoGP debut in the opening race of 2008, in his first race on Bridgestone tires.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards started his seventh season in MotoGP riding solidly from sixth on the grid to finish fourth on his own Bridgestone debut, making it three Yamahas in the top four.

Also on new tires and with a new factory bike Repsol Honda’s 2009 signing Andrea Dovizioso was fifth, fading slightly in the second half of the race having run in third place for several laps.

There was a good performance from Alex de Angelis, crossing the line sixth having qualified ninth at the start of his second year with the San Carlo Honda Gresini team. Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen also made a decent start to the year with his improved GSV-R machine in seventh.

An excellent MotoGP debut from satellite Ducati rider Mika Kallio, meanwhile, saw him end up as the best placed rookie in eighth for the Pramac Racing team.

On factory machinery and returning to the Honda Gresini team this year, Toni Elías could not do better than ninth, whilst Frenchman Randy de Puniet brought the satellite LCR Honda RC212V home three seconds behind the Spaniard to complete the top ten.

Dani Pedrosa, riding with knee and wrist injuries, battled through the pain barrier to pick up some important points in eleventh spot. On his Ducati debut, Pedrosa’s former team-mate Nicky Hayden also did well to complete the race in twelfth, given the back and chest injuries he suffered in a huge highside crash in qualifying on Saturday. The brave 2006 World Champion even set his best time on the last lap.

Sete Gibernau finished 13th on his MotoGP comeback with the satellite Ducati Grupo Francisco Hernando team, unable to push into the top ten due to his ongoing shoulder injury.

Marco Melandri made his first appearance for the Hayate Racing Team and ran off track early on but battled back well to finish in the points in 14th.

Commencing his 20th Grand Prix season Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi crashed out on lap eight and was unable to rejoin the race.

———————————————————————-

Repsol Honda riders Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa put on a battling display in the Qatar Grand Prix, finishing in fifth and eleventh places in the delayed opening round of the MotoGP World Championship. Both came away feeling positive after an eventful weekend, yet also believed their finishing positions didn’t fully reflect their potential in this dramatic 22-lap race.

Making his race debut in the factory Honda team, Dovizioso didn’t get the best of starts and slipped from fourth on the grid to seventh in the first few corners. The 23-year-old Italian then unleashed a series of scorching moves in the opening laps, climbing to third place and setting off in pursuit of Valentino Rossi. His blistering progress was only subdued by a feeling of reduced grip from the front of his RC212V which forced Dovizioso to slow slightly and adjust his riding style. He came home in a creditable fifth to collect 11 points.

No one would have believed his Repsol Honda team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, was riding injured as he stormed through the field from his starting position of 14th. The tough Spaniard was up to an amazing sixth place by lap eight and, considering that he’s been unable to ride for over five weeks as he recovered from surgery, an incredible result looked possible. However, the 24-year-old began to experience some vibration from his front wheel and started slip back through the field. He wasn’t helped by Alex de Angelis who spectacularly slammed into the side of Pedrosa – who had been forced wide as Chris Vermeulen slipped by to take sixth place. At the chequered flag, a battered and bruised Pedrosa valiantly held on to eleventh place to collect five valuable points – confirming that his decision to race in Qatar was the right one.

The Repsol Honda squad now heads for their home race, the Japanese Grand Prix which takes place at the Twin Ring Motegi, in two week’s time.

Andrea Dovizioso, 5th
“I didn’t start well but I was able to overtake some riders and get into third position. During the first three laps the machine was performing really well – as it had during practice – and I tried to keep in contact with Valentino, but then I started struggling with the front. It was folding entering the corners and, later, also mid-corner, so I couldn’t turn as I would have liked. I had to slow down and compensate by turning with the rear tire. We never had this issue during practice or the pre-season tests, so we need to understand what happened and do some more work to adapt the machine to the tires. It was a very hard fight today, and I’m satisfied that we learned a lot here in practice and during the race. Now we’ll analyze the data and work hard for the next one in Japan.”.

Dani Pedrosa, 11th
“Overall I’m happy because of my progress over the weekend. I improved in every session and I’m glad to have come here and scored five points – though I’m also slightly disappointed because it could even have been ten or eleven. I got a good start and the race was going very well at the beginning. After seven or eight laps, though, I had started to get some vibration with the front wheel which became more severe as the race progressed. I started to lose grip at the front and my lap times suffered, so we’ll have to check what the issue was. I also suffered a lot physically in the race, and de Angelis gave me a big hit mid-race. The collision was avoidable I think because he could have passed me cleanly. My knee was giving me a lot of pain by the end and my left arm was pretty tired too. Still, we came away having completed the race and with a few points, which was our target, so I’m happy.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager
“Both riders were fighting hard to the chequered flag and I’m very pleased with their performance this weekend. We’ve amassed a lot of data from both machines and from Andrea and Dani’s feedback, and we’ll use this to work on the areas where we need to improve our machine’s performance. Now we’re back racing again we know what we’ve got to do. The weekend has been positive overall, but fifth and 11th isn’t where we want to be, so we’ll continue to work hard and move forward.”

———————————————————————–

It was second time lucky for the Qatari night race as the usual desert conditions prevailed for the duration of Monday’s running, leaving Casey Stoner and the Ducati Team to complete a clean sweep at the top of the time sheets in every one of the weekend’s sessions. The Australian was followed home by Valentino Rossi, whilst Jorge Lorenzo finished third to take the second podium spot for Fiat Yamaha.

As they had prepared to do before yesterday’s postponement, all riders competed on Bridgestone’s medium compound front and rear slicks. Whilst Stoner controlled the lead of the race, there were some close battles in the midfield including some fairing-bashing between Honda stable-mates Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and the recovering Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda).

After last night’s rain, the track conditions had changed today with the MotoGP machines running on a cleaner surface. Unlike the past three days, there was also very little wind all day to blow sand back onto the tarmac, meaning that the Stoner’s fastest race-pace lap was just six tenths of a second shy of his qualifying pole time, set using Bridgestone’s soft compound rear to give maximum grip over a short qualifying run.

Whilst the race weekend was extended by one day, no additional Bridgestone tires were allocated to the riders. Owing to an increased level of grip from the cleaner track and the slightly increased ground temperature, the medium compound slick was clearly the correct choice for today’s conditions.

Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit
“I would like to congratulate Casey Stoner and Ducati Team for their victory in what has been a very unusual race weekend at Losail. It is very rare that we have a race on Monday! We came here knowing that our tires faced a challenge as Qatar was one of our most difficult races last year, but I am happy with the level we have delivered this weekend. I am pleased that we have been able to meet the task of providing a consistent control tire and I am pleased we have completed this weekend with no problems.”

Casey Stoner, Ducati Team, Race Winner
“Everyone is on the same tires now so you don’t hear any more things about ‘his tires are better than mine’. The grip is not the best at this track and the bike was moving around a little, but maybe from my dirt-track days I feel more comfortable than maybe other riders do like this. We are all on the same tires so it is a good feeling to win the first race like this.”

Casey Stoner will start the 2009 MotoGP World Championship from pole position in Qatar after a dominant performance in today’s single qualifying session, which saw Nicky Hayden suffer a spectacular crash that has left him battered, bruised and doubtful for his Ducati race debut tomorrow night. The American is suffering severe pain in his back and after undergoing some initial x-rays at the circuit medical centre, he has been taken to a local hospital for further checks. He also required three stitches in a cut on his chest and a decision on his participation in the race will be made tomorrow.

As he had done in each of the free practice sessions, Stoner set the pace throughout this evening’s 45-minute grid shoot-out and rarely looked threatened at the top of the time sheets, leading nearest rival Valentino Rossi by over a second for the majority of the session before the Italian closed the gap to 0.432 seconds at the end.

However, the Australian’s first question to his mechanics on his return to parc fermé was not about his own authoritarian performance but about the condition of Hayden, who he had seen left strewn in the gravel at turn eight following a sickening high-side. It was the latest episode in a luckless weekend for the American, who suffered an engine breakdown in today’s final free practice.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st (1′55.286)
“It rained a little bit at ?lunchtime’ between the two practice sessions today but it was gone as quickly as it arrived and we were relieved that we were able to ride at all. There is a little bit of dust and dirt that seems to come down with the rain here so we knew the track conditions would be slick and the lap times wouldn’t come down much. The reality was that there was so much dirt out there that the softer compound tires worked virtually like a qualifier and only lasted for a couple of laps. Even on a race tire it is hard to predict whether your set-up is going to work because the conditions are different every time we go out so we’re going to have to wait and see what tomorrow brings. It’s impossible to guess what could happen in the race but generally I’m happy with our set-up and the main thing for us at this early stage is to pick up points, keep working on our weaknesses and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes as last year by getting to the middle of the season with problems to fix. The whole team are keeping our fingers crossed for Nicky too. Hopefully he can ride tomorrow but the most important thing is that he’s okay.”

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 16th (1′58.215)
“I don’t feel like going for a jog right now, I can tell you that much! It was a big crash and I’m in a lot of pain so we’re going to get some more x-rays done and see what the score is”.

Official Results from the first qualifying session of the 2009 season | CommercialBank Grand Prix of Qatar, Losail

Stone cold Stoner ran away by almost half a second…. Nicky Hayden had a nasty high side in the final minutes of qualifying and was taken to the hospital off track. While we are still waiting for specific details we can report that he is not critical but it is not yet known weather or not he will race tomorrow.

Pos.- Num., Rider / Nationality- Team ,Motorcycle; Lap time

1- 27, Casey Stoner / AUS- Ducati Marlboro Team, Ducati; 1′55.286
2- 46, Valentino Rossi / ITA- Fiat Yamaha Team, Yamaha; 1′55.759
3- 99, Jorge Lorenzo / SPA- Fiat Yamaha Team, Yamaha; 1′55.783
4- 4, Andrea Dovizioso / ITA- Repsol Honda Team, Honda; 1′55.977
5- 65, Loris Capirossi / ITA- Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, Suzuki; 1′56.149
6- 5, Colin Edwards / USA- Monster Yamaha Tech 3, Yamaha; 1′56.194
7- 14, Randy DePuniet / FRA- LCR Honda MotoGP, Honda; 1′56.358
8- 7, Chris Vermeulen / AUS- Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, Suzuki; 1′56.493
9- 15, Alex DeAngelis / RSM- San Carlo Honda Gresini, Honda; 1′56.790
10- 36, Mika Kallio / FIN- Pramac Racing, Ducati; 1′56.852
11- 33, Marco Melandri / ITA- Hayate Racing Team, Kawasaki; 1′56.962
12- 24, Toni Elias / SPA- San Carlo Honda Gresini, Honda; 1′57.225
13- 52, James Toseland / GBR- Monster Yamaha Tech 3, Yamaha; 1′57.510
14- 3, Dani Pedrosa / SPA- Repsol Honda Team, Honda; 1′57.729
15- 59, Sete Gibernau / SPA- Grupo Francisco Hernando, Ducati; 1′57.899
16- 69, Nicky Hayden / USA- Ducati Marlboro Team, Ducati; 1′58.215
17- 72, Yuki Takahashi / JPN- Scot Racing Team MotoGP, Honda; 1′58.784
18- 88, Niccolo Canepa / ITA- Pramac Racing, Ducati; 1′58.999

Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner was the winner of a special edition BMW 135i in Sunday’s showdown session at the MotoGP Official Test. The 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner was untouchable in Sunday afternoon’s BMW M Award at the southern Spanish circuit of Jerez, dominating the session onboard his formidable Desmosedici GP9 machine.

Stoner registered a superb 1’38.646s lap in the final ten minutes of the session even finding time to give a wave to his Ducati Marlboro team in their pit-box as he flew down the main straight at the end of the lap. Shortly after, the session was brought to a premature close by rainfall, with just over three minutes remaining on the clock.

The winner of last year’s BMW M Award in the rain at Jerez, Stoner’s repeat trick earned him another car to add to his collection, picking up a 135i ‘BMW Sauber F1 Team Edition’, of which only 135 have been made.

The reigning World Champion and winner of the 2007 BMW M Award Valentino Rossi got closest to Stoner with a 1’39.365s time, which put him second on the timesheet, 0.719s behind the Australian. Like Stoner, the Fiat Yamaha man is enjoying a good preseason and the pair look like they will push each other hard for the title in 2009.

Behind the front two it was Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen who sandwiched fourth placed Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo in the top five.

Causing a surprise in sixth place was Mika Kallio who impressed his Pramac Racing crew with his pace, despite running off track at one point.

In the continued absence of injured team-mate Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso was the fastest HRC representative. A good performance from returning Ducati rider Sete Gibernau, meanwhile, saw him lap eighth quickest on his Grupo Francisco Hernando satellite bike.

The top ten was rounded off by San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias and the winner of the 2006 BMW M Award, Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards.

With around 15 minutes remaining Edwards’ team-mate James Toseland suffered a nasty highside crash and was stretchered away, as his problematic preseason continued. The session was briefly red flagged as the English rider was given medical attention at the side of the track, with early reports from Clinica Mobile later indicating that he was heavily bruised but not seriously injured.

The 2009 MotoGP preseason concludes on Sunday afternoon after a final 3.15pm – 6.00pm free practice session, with the riders reconvening at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar for the first race of the year on the 10th-12th April weekend.

On Day one Ducati MotoGP Team riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden made the most of changeable weather in the south of Spain today to complete some important set-up work on their Desmosedici GP9 machines. With less than two weeks remaining before the opening practice session of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship in Qatar there was anxiety amidst a soaking wet paddock this morning, with torrential rain having drenched the track.

Thankfully the strong Spanish sun emerged before lunchtime to produce acceptable conditions for a worthwhile test in the afternoon, when Stoner consistently featured at the top of the timesheets despite struggling to get maximum potential out of the GP9 at what has proven to be a demanding track for Ducati in recent seasons. Hayden continues to make progress in his adaptation to the bike and Bridgestone tires but will be looking to make the most of his final day of preseason testing, which takes place here tomorrow.

The climax to the test comes at 2pm tomorrow afternoon, when Stoner will look to repeat his feat from last year by setting the fastest time in a 45-minute televised ?qualifying? session and take home a brand new car as his prize.

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) 3rd fastest – 1?39.906

?Jerez has been our weak point for the last couple of seasons and for some reason our bike just doesn?t like it here. There used to be a lot of bumps that unsettled it but to be fair a lot of them were ironed out when they re-laid the surface and now it?s hard to put my finger on the problem. I think every Ducati rider is in the same boat ? Jerez is like our kryptonite! So basically we?re not working on general set-up because we know the data we get here will be useless everywhere else – the target is to work on finding something that will help us get around this circuit and limit the damage when the race comes around. As far as my wrist is concerned, the hard-braking left-handers are tricky but other than that it is okay and I have no concerns about going race distance.?

NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati MotoGP Team) 9th fastest – 1?40.987

?We were lucky today because it looked like the weather was going to be a disaster. This morning we decided to go out and do some laps anyway just to check the performance of the wet tires on a damp track because we won?t have any intermediates this year. When it dried out in the afternoon we found that the bike had improved in some areas but there are other things we really need to work on. We?ll speak to Filippo Preziosi this evening, analyse the data and try to do much better tomorrow because it would be nice to be pushing near the front before we go to Qatar.?

Is Casey Stoner the rider to beat 2009?

2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner dominated the time sheets during a three-day test March 1-3 under the lights at the Losail Circuit in Qatar, leading with a lap of 1 minute, 55.744 seconds on his Ducati. He (Stoner) was nearly a second quicker than the next-closest rider, Jorge Lorenzo of Fiat Yamaha, whose best lap was 1:56.733. Stoner also led the daytime test Feb. 5-7 at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia.

“I’m obviously very happy with the lap time and the rhythm we put together today, although I would have liked to have been able to get a few more laps in and test some more stuff,” Stoner said. “We still managed to try a few things with the electronics – some of them good and some not so good – and we confirmed the good feeling I had yesterday with the new swingarm, although we still need more time to work on it, and that’s what we’ll be doing at Jerez.”

Six-time and reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi, who won the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP last September, was third at 1:56.972 on his Fiat Yamaha. Chris Vermeulen was fourth at 1:57.224 on his Suzuki, while 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden rounded out the top five at 1:57.225 on his Ducati.

It was a dramatic improvement for American standout Hayden, who was 11th overall at the Sepang test.

“That was definitely a good day, and we’ve made plenty of progress so I’m really pleased,” Hayden said. “I was thinking this morning that this would be the right time to take a step forward because we’ve only got two more days of testing before the season starts, so it’s obviously very satisfying to have done that. There is still plenty to do, but my team has worked well and now we have a lot of information to work on. I got a good feel for the new swingarm straight away, but we still have work to do and we need to make more comparisons with the previous version before drawing definite conclusions.”

The other American on the MotoGP grid, Colin Edwards, ended up ninth overall at 1:57.515 on a Tech 3 Yamaha. Edwards was fourth overall at Sepang.

“I am really happy with this test,” Edwards said. “It didn’t start well with the rain on the first night and the wind blew a lot of sand and dust onto the track on the second night, so the lap times were still way off normal pace. But I was still one of the quickest, and I’ve got to say the Yamaha and Bridgestone combination is very impressive.

“I’ve just been concentrating on trying to find a good setting for the race, even though we expect the temperature to be a little warmer when we return, but I’m really confident. I couldn’t believe my race simulation. The grip from Bridgestone is really incredible, and I’m seriously impressed. The grip just gets better the more distance you run on it, and I did my best lap in the race simulation on the last lap.”

This was a vital test because it took place on the circuit where the season-opening race – also a night event – will be contested Sunday, April 12. The second annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP is Sunday, Aug. 30 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Stoner was unhurt in a crash late on the final night of testing. He also reported progress on his wrist. Stoner ran limited laps early during the Sepang test due to intense pain in his wrist, which required surgery during the offseason to repair a lingering fracture that didn’t heal.

“The crash was on the way into Turn 2, and it was very similar to the one here last year – practically from an upright position,” Stoner said. “I got straight back on the other bike, but with such an unpredictable track, we decided to finish an hour early because the conditions were only getting worse.

“The wrist has responded quite well. It’s not as painful as it was at Sepang even though the mobility still hasn’t improved much. We’ll have to see how at feels it circuits with harder braking and more left-hand corners, which is where I struggle the most.”

Dani Pedrosa wasn’t as lucky as Stoner at Qatar. Repsol Honda team leader Pedrosa will require surgery for a broken left arm suffered in a crash March 2, the second night of the test.

Pedrosa’s status for the next test, March 28-29 at Jerez, Spain, is uncertain.