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by Jimmy Martin, 14th April 2009
 Casey Stoner made a perfect start to this year's MotoGP campaign, crushing the opposition at Qatar in one of his trademark lights-to-flag victories. The race took place 22 hours late, after the original running was cancelled just seconds before the parade lap due to torrential rain. Ironically, the real problem was not the flood water, but the floodlights that were illuminating this night race. The glare and reflections from the lighting make the track unrideable in wet weather. This was also the first race for the new control tyre rule, so all riders were on the mandatory Bridgestone rubber.
When the lights eventually went out, Stoner fired his Marlboro Ducati off the line to lead into turn one. Loris Capirossi was in second on the Rizla Suzuki, ahead of the FIAT Yamaha pair of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. The two team-mates battled around the first lap, with Lorenzo passing his team leader for third, only for Rossi to take the place back from the young Spaniard later in the lap. At the front, Stoner was looking ominously fast. His red Ducati was glistening under the artificial lights, and he was easily pulling away from Capirossi's powder blue Suzuki.
Marco Melandri had impressed in practise and qualifying on the Hayate Kawasaki, but his luck ran out as the field entered the first corner on lap 2. The Italian outbraked himself and ran off the track at high speed, but managed to stay onboard and set off after the disappearing tail enders.
Having dealt with his team-mate, Valentino Rossi quickly closed down the gap to his fellow Italian Capirossi, and passed the veteran on lap 3. Andrea Dovizioso took his Repsol Honda past Lorenzo for 4th position. Now Stoner was well in front, ahead of a four-way scrap between Rossi, Capirossi, Dovizioso and Lorenzo, with Rizla Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen behind them in 6th, followed by Monster Energy Yamaha's Colin Edwards. The two ex-Superbike racers were fighting amongst themselves, with Edwards passing Vermeulen to take 6th position. Loris Capirossi could not maintain his early pace, and lost 3rd place to his much younger countryman Dovizioso.
Things started to get exciting on lap 7. Jorge Lorenzo outbraked Dovizioso to nick third place, the pair almost touching on the start finish straight. James Toseland on the second Monster Energy Yamaha then ran off the track at turn one, much the same way as Melandri had earlier. Loris Capirossi was struggling for pace, and with Colin Edwards breathing down his neck, the Italian slid off the track in a right-hander. What would be a fairly standard lowside crash was transformed into an amazing night-time spectacle, as the Suzuki scraped down the track throwing up a massive shower of sparks. Little Capirex was uninjured, and trudged away unaided.
At the front, Valentino Rossi had chipped away at Casey Stoner's lead, with the gap down to just 2 seconds.
Dani Pedrosa, who sustained nasty injuries in a testing crash and was thought unlikely to show up for the race, was surprising everyone by running in 6th place, having started 14th. The teeny Spaniard's Repsol Honda was just in front of Vermeulen's Suzuki and Gresini Honda rider Alex de Angelis. However, everything went downhill fast for poor Dani, as Vermeulen passed him in a nice, clean move. De Angelis lacked the subtlety of the Australian though, and he slammed into the side of Pedrosa in a left-hander. It was a huge collision, nearly throwing Dani off the bike, but he miraculously held on, punched his bent clutch lever back into the right position and rode on. De Angelis was investigated by the stewards, but the erratic young Italian escaped punishment. He outbraked Vermeulen into turn one to grab 6th position. Pedrosa soon lost out on 8th place to the impressive young Finn Mika Kallio, making his MotoGP debut on the Pramac Ducati.
Back at the front, Casey Stoner was starting to pull away from Rossi, who seemed to have settled for second place.
Colin Edwards was on a charge, passing Dovizioso to take 4th place with 9 laps to go. As the laps ticked off, Toni Elias was starting to look good on his factory-spec Gresini Honda. He passed Dani Pedrosa, and although his fellow diminutive Spaniard was quicker down the straight, Elias stayed in front. This dropped Pedrosa into the clutches of LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet, and the Frenchman overtook Dani with just 2 laps left to run.
 Casey Stoner wheelied from the last corner to the finish line, winning by 7.7 seconds. The Australian had taken the first victory of the new model Ducati, which has an innovative carbon fibre frame and swing arm. He later claimed to have slowed down to conserve fuel during the race. Valentino Rossi was second on the FIAT Yamaha, with his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo third, pulling a huge wheelie as he rode towards the line, more than 16 seconds behind the winner.
Colin Edwards made it a Yamaha 2-3-4 as he came in next on his Monster Energy machine, more than 24 seconds behind the all-conquering Stoner. Nicky Hayden finished 12th, 48 seconds behind his Marlboro Ducati team-mate. However, the Kentuckian was lapping very quickly towards the finish, and was suffering the after effects of a massive highside in qualifying that literally flung him through the windscreen of his bike, the shattered perspex cutting his chest badly enough to require stitches. Still, it underlined Casey Stoner's incredible speed on the tricky Ducati Desmosedici.
Stoner dominated the whole weekend. His wrist injury seems to have fully healed, and the brand new Ducati is already the quickest bike out there. Valentino Rossi will have to work very hard to keep hold of his MotoGP world championship title this year.
| Race Results |
| Rider |
|
Team |
Time |
| 1. Casey Stoner |
AUS |
Ducati Marlboro |
42m 53.984s |
| 2. Valentino Rossi |
ITA |
Fiat Yamaha |
43m 01.755s |
| 3. Jorge Lorenzo |
SPA |
Fiat Yamaha |
43m 10.228s |
| 4. Colin Edwards |
USA |
Tech 3 Yamaha |
43m 18.394s |
| 5. Andrea Dovizioso |
ITA |
Repsol Honda |
43m 21.247s |
| 6. Alex De Angelis |
RSM |
San Carlo Honda Gresini |
43m 23.867s |
| 7. Chris Vermeulen |
AUS |
Rizla Suzuki |
43m 27.611s |
| 8. Mika Kallio |
FIN |
Pramac Racing |
43m 28.739s |
| 9. Toni Elias |
SPA |
San Carlo Honda Gresini |
43m 33.465s |
| 10. Randy De Puniet |
FRA |
LCR Honda |
43m 36.268s |
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