Stoner stuns Roosi in Qatar GP
2007-03-10 17:23
Doha - Casey Stoner of Australia edged seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi to win Saturday's season-opening Qatar GP.
Ducati's Stoner overtook Rossi, who started the race on pole position, on the first lap and completed 22 laps of the 5.4km Losail International Circuit in 43:2:48 for his first MotoGP victory in 17 races.
Rossi of Yamaha twice regained the lead - on the sixth and 18th laps - but only managed to finish in second place in 43:05.62.
Dani Pedrosa of Spain was third in 43:11.31 and his Honda teammate and defending champion Nicky Hayden of the United States (US) in eighth in 43:25.84.
"I feel we made the right choices this week, which was great fun for me," said Stoner. "We had a couple of issues with the bike, but not major ones, so I am very pleased with the result."
The riders next race in Jerez, Spain, for the second leg of the 18-round season on March 25.
John Hopkins of the US was fourth, with Marco Melandri of Italy and Colin Edwards of the United States fifth and sixth respectively.
Perfect start
Earlier on Saturday, defending 250cc world champion Jorge Lorenzo won the season-opening race in his category.
The Spanish rider started from pole position on his Aprilia and completed the 20-lap race in 40 minutes, 23.75 seconds, ahead of Aprilia teammates Alex De Angelis of San Marino and Hector Barbera of Spain.
De Angelis was second in 40:24.97, while Barbera was third in 40:26.66.
"It was a perfect start. I think it was a good race for us although I had to really push hard for the win. This race was similar to the first race in the last season," the 19-year-old Lorenzo said after his ninth win in the 250cc class.
In the 125cc class race, Hector Faubel of Spain led an Aprilia 1-2 when he edged Hungary's Gabor Talmacsi to the top spot.
Starting from second place, Faubel completed the 18-lap race in 38:12.02 for his third career win.
Talmacsi, who took pole position on Friday, finished second in 38:12.10. Lukas Pesek of the Czech Republic came in third after starting from fourth spot on the front row, finishing in 38:29.52 on his Derbi.
- AP