Australia’s 2007 World MotoGP champion Casey Stoner won his third successive Qatar Grand Prix on Monday in a race that had to be held over from Sunday because of heavy rain.
Stoner eased home on his Ducati ahead of last year’s reigning champion Valentino Rossi of Italy, who was second on a Yamaha, while Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo of Spain was third.
The 23-year-old victor professed himself to be happier with his overall physical condition than he was last year.
PHOTO: AP
“I’m not quite there yet, but I am almost at 100 percent fitness,” Stoner said. “However, I am not surprised by winning here, as I felt great physically and definitely better than last year. However, at the end of the race I was suffering a little ... especially my right leg because of the constant braking.”
“Everything went really well for me except in the last six laps, when the front wheel started to suffer wear and tear,” he said.
For his part Rossi was satisfied enough with his first race.
“We have made worse starts to a season than this, so I have to be content with the performance,” said the charismatic Italian, who has won the title eight times.
“I was fast enough and able to stay within two seconds of him [Stoner], but the front wheel was really badly worn and I nearly fell two or three times,” Rossi said. “Therefore I decided to slow down. The second-half of the race wasn’t great, but I am still happy.”
Lorenzo, runner-up in Qatar in this category last year but a winner three times in Qatar in the less powerful categories, was disappointed by the overall performance of his bike.
“We weren’t competitive enough to win. It was really frustrating to be so far in arrears of the two leaders in particular on this circuit in which I have had quite a lot of success,” Lorenzo said.
Stoner led from the start, with Rossi dropping back to third, though the latter’s compatriot Marco Melandri paid for trying to overdo it at the corner of the home straight after the first lap and ended up ploughing into the dirt.
He rejoined the race but found himself at the back of the 18-rider field.
Rossi moved into second with 20 laps remaining and with a two-second deficit on Stoner.
The Australian managed to keep it around the two second mark for the next three laps while the duo of Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso and Lorenzo had their own duel for third and were a further second adrift.
Loris Capirossi came to grief in spectacular fashion with 14 laps remaining as with Colin Edwards challenging him for fifth spot he crashed and bounced several meters into the gravel — picking himself up gingerly to walk back to the pits.
Rossi brought the gap between him and Stoner down below the two second mark for the first time after nine laps of the 22 as the duo looked to have put enough distance between themselves and the rest of the field.
Indeed with 12 laps remaining Rossi in second had an eight second advantage over third-placed Lorenzo but Stoner was not allowing the Italian to close any further on him and with 10 laps to go he had almost a three-second lead over him.
He was up by three seconds with seven laps remaining and Rossi seemed powerless to do anything to reduce it, but the Italian, known as “The Doctor,” was safe and sound in his runner-up spot as Lorenzo was well back nearly 15 seconds adrift.
From then on Stoner had no problems in extending his overall lead as with three laps remaining it stood at over five seconds and he cantered home to victory to land the first blow of what promises to be a thrilling battle for the title.
Finland’s MotoGP debutant Mika Kallio produced a promising showing as the 26-year-old two-time 125cc title runner-up finished eighth and picked up eight points, while Japanese debutant Yuki Takahashi was always in the back division but nevertheless gained one championship point by finishing 15th of the 17 finishers.
Two-time MotoGP title race runner-up Sete Gibernau didn’t have the best of returns to the championship after a two year hiatus which saw him get married and then go through a divorce, as the 36-year-old veteran could finish only 13th.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS