A perfect race for Casey Stoner and his third consecutive win on the Losail race circuit in the rescheduled MotoGP race this Monday night.
The Malboro Ducati rider dominated the entire race from the starting grid to the finish line, leaving a second place Valentino Rossi a massive 7.
771 seconds behind.
Rossi hopes of staying on the Australian’s tail were dashed when he went wide and dropped from second to third with fast starting Loris Capirossi already second and team mate Jorge Lorenzo overtaking him.
Rossi then repassed Lorenzo by the end of the first lap, and then retaking second place from Capirossi on the third lap, but Stoner put in a 1.
55.
8 in the second lap and after that was long gone with a three second advantage .
Rossi never got closer than 1.
9sec and then started to fade.
Rossi would later say that his front tire started to ruin and it was slow down or crash out, also adding that he lost time in the begining of the race.
Lorenzo took third place on the podium over eight seconds from Rossi and 16.
244 from Stoner.
After being passed by Rossi, Capirossi was passed by Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, and then on the eigth lap lost his front and crashed out and was unable to rejoin the race.
Dovizioso was fifth after losing fourth place to Colin Edwards on lap 14.
A good perfomance by Alex De Angelis, but his position may be contested by the race direction after hitting Dani Pedrosa’s Honda, who despite the considerable force of the hit managed to hang on, but seemed considerably shaken by the incident, considering he was riding at 60/70% fitness after his recent wrist and knee surgery.
Pedrosa had fought his way up from 14th to 6th and after the incident was passed by several other riders and finished 11th.
Second Malboro Ducati rider Nicky Hayden also riding injured after his highside during qualifying, finished 12th.
Vermeulen on his Suzuki took home seventh position, and rookie Mika Kallio, second best Ducati rider 8th.
Toni Elias on his San Carlo Gresini spec Honda was 9th and Randy de Puniet without his Playboy livery, completed the top ten.
Behind Hayden, returning Sete Gibernau on his Ducati finished 13th while Marco Melandri debuting the Hayate, formerly known as Kawasaki, took a trip into the gravel trap but managed to get back in the race and finish 14th in front of Yuki Takahashi, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider James Toseland, who also ran off track was 16th and rookie Pramac rider Niccolò Canepa, 17th.
Final Results of the CommercialBank Grand Prix of Qatar:1 Casey STONER Ducati Marlboro Team2 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team +7.
7713 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team +16.
2444 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +24.
4105 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team +27.
2636 Alex DE ANGELIS San Carlo Honda Gresini +29.
8837 Chris VERMEULEN Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +33.
6278 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing +34.
7559 Toni ELIAS San Carlo Honda Gresini +39.
48110 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP +42.
28411 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team +48.
52612 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Marlboro Team +48.
88313 Sete GIBERNAU Grupo Francisco Hernando +52.
21514 Marco MELANDRI Hayate Racing Team +56.
37915 Yuki TAKAHASHI Scot Racing Team MotoGP +1′00.
28616 James TOSELAND Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +1′14.
97817 Niccolo CANEPA Pramac Racing +1′15.
028Not classifiedLoris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
