Win for Stoner in Qatar Monday night race

The re-scheduled first MotoGP race of 2009 saw Casey Stoner take victory at the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar.

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 in Qatar.

Following the exceptional postponement of the opening MotoGP contest of the year due to rain in the Arabian desert, Monday evening witnessed the first race in the new single tyre 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. Stoner’s 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 tyres.

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 tyres 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 new look Pramac Racing outfit.

On factory machinery and returning to the Honda Gresini team this year, Toni Elías may be disappointed not to have done 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.

After a weekend off the MotoGP riders next reconvene at the Polini Grand Prix of Japan for round two, which takes place at the Motegi circuit from 24th-26th April.

Stoner questions Qatar restart

Australia's Casey Stoner has questioned the decision to run the season-opening Qatar MotoGP race a day after it was washed out.

The race, due to have begun on Sunday night, was re-scheduled for 9pm Monday local time (2am Tuesday Perth time) after it was cancelled when torrential rain fell just minutes before the start.

Stoner had dominated all practice and qualifying sessions on his Ducati and had been set to start the race from pole position.

But officials had no choice but to cancel the race, leading to an organisational headache and massive extra costs in a sport desperate to save money.

"It's just unlucky with the weather,'' said Stoner, the 2007 world champion, who was bidding for a third successive win in Qatar.

"It can be a good idea or it can be a bad idea to race on Monday. A lot of money has been spent on keeping people here at a time when we are trying to cut costs.

"It's disappointing it's happened like this.''

"We wait six months for the first race of the season. But when you decide to have a night race, it's risky. No-one expected these conditions in Qatar."

Circuit organisers were preparing to use three special machines to clear the track of excess water throughout the day.

Qatar race live, postponed to Monday night

Grand Prix of Qatar was stopped at Losail International Circuit

A rare rainstorm at the Losail International Circuit on Sunday evening saw the first MotoGP race of the year put back to Monday at 9pm local time.

After the season-opening Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar was interrupted by rain on Sunday evening the MotoGP race had to be postponed and will now be run on Monday evening at 9pm local time, with an additional warm-up session beforehand at 6.30pm.
After shortened 250cc and 125cc races earlier in the evening the heavy rainstorm in the Arabian desert at 11pm on Sunday evening made it unsafe for the MotoGP riders to go out onto the 5.380km floodlit circuit.

FIM, IRTA, Dorna and the QMMF (Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation) have released the following statement on the MotoGP race postponement at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.

Due to adverse weather conditions, the MotoGP race at the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar has been postponed.

Following discussions between FIM, IRTA, Dorna and the QMMF, a proposal was put to the MotoGP teams to run the race tomorrow evening. Thanks to a huge effort from all parties concerned, and out of respect to fans of motorsport around the world, it has been decided that the race will take place on Monday 13th April, 2009.

The warm-up will run at 6.30pm local time (GMT+3), with the race scheduled to start at 9pm.

FIM Road-racing Commission President, Mr. Claude Danis stated, “For safety reasons it was not possible to race in the night due to the reflection of the lights on the track. This decision had already been taken a few years ago when we first decided to run a night race in Qatar. On behalf of the FIM I am very happy that we could postpone the race until tomorrow. It is important for the championship, especially at the first race, and I would like to thank Dorna, QMMF, IRTA and the MotoGP teams for helping reach this decision together.”

Dorna Sports CEO, Mr. Carmelo Ezpeleta added, “After the arrival of a large storm we had to cancel the race as it was unsafe. The QMMF offered us the choice to run the race tomorrow, and as it was a very important decision we wanted to consult with all the team managers. The postponement was accepted by a large majority. This has been an extraordinary decision in extraordinary circumstances.”