Casey Stoner takes maiden victory in Doha

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2007-03-10 Casey Stoner takes maiden victory in Doha
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Casey Stoner took maiden victory in Doha after race-long battle with Valentino Rossi. Australian youngster rode fantastic race from the start, using sher power of Ducati to overtake Rossi every time he got into lead in corners. Dani Pedrosa completed podium in MotoGP season opener.

Rossi was first man to get into first corner of Losail circuit, and he managed to keep lead until end of the first lap, when Casy Stoner maged to pass him on start-finish straight, using superb speed of Ducati Desmosedici. Leading duo was joined by Elias, Pedrosa, and Edwards. In first part of the race, Stoner was closelly followed by Rossi and Pedrosa, and we expected to see battle of this trio for victory.

However, Stoner and Rossi started to make gap to Pedrosa in the middle of the race, and at the end, this gap was 5 seconds to second-placed Rossi. Fantastic performance was demonstrated today by John Hopkins, who ended race in 4th, after hard battle with Pedrosa.

Marco Melandri edged Colin Edwards for 5th place. Chris Vermeulen took many places during the race to finish in 7th place. World Champion was unable to make surprise and finished race in 8th place, in front of Superbike refugee, Alex Barros. Shinya Nakano completed top 10 finishers in Doha.

Crashing season was opened by Loris Capirossi in lap 6, with de Puniet and Carlos Checa crashing in sequence one lap later.

Today we saw fantastic season opener, and demonstration of great form of youg Australian, Casey Stoner. Despite giving his best, Rossi was unable to pull rabbit from his hat, and for sure he was frustrated by lack of top speed of his Yamaha, which was 20Km/h slower than Ducati on straight. For sure, there is much more to come in 2007. MotoGP season, and we are looking forward seeing it!

Race results:
1. Casey Stoner
2. Valentino Rossi
3. Dani Pedrosa
4. John Hopkins
5. Marco Melandri
6. Colin Edwards
7. Chris Vermeulen
8. Nicky Hayden
9. Alex Barros
10. Shinya Nakano
11. Alex Hofmann
12. Olivier Jacque
13. Kenny Roberts Jr.
14. Toni Elias
15. Sylvian Guintoli
16. Makoto Tamada

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