Stoner dominates Qatar GP

The Ducati Marlboro rider had a quiet start from fourth place of this first ever night world motorcycling race, and kept position until one third of the race through.

But within a single lap, the eighth, the Australian overtook first Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, and then the Fiat Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo for second and Valentino Rossi's one for the lead.

Only rookie Lorenzo, after passing team leader Rossi for second, managed to stay with Stoner. But the reigning champion put in a string of blistering laps and started opening a gap on lap 15, and by the end of the race said gap widened to 5.3 seconds.

Third place was taken by Pedrosa, who managed to take the position from Rossi on lap 14 after challenging the Italian for five laps. The Spaniard ultimately finished five seconds behind Lorenzo and two and a half ahead of Rossi.

In the same Pedrosa-Rossi pack were debutants Andrea Dovizioso on a JiR Team Scot Honda, and Superbike champion James Toseland on a Tech 3 Yamaha.

The young Italian first challenged Rossi with three laps to go, with the two exchanging positions but the veteran coming up on top.

But that didn't stop the rookie from giving his all on the last lap, when positions were swapped three times and the Honda privateer beating the works Yamaha by less than two hundredths at the flag.

Toseland finished the race right behind Rossi in an impressive sixth place, with teammate Colin Edwards ending one second further back in seventh.

Loris Capirossi's debut for Rizla Suzuki was not the happiest, with the Italian having to settle for a distant eighth, over half a minute behind the winner.

Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda finished ninth, ahead of the other works Honda of Nicky Hayden in tenth.

Marco Melandri in the works Ducati ended the race in a disappointing eleventh place, 44 seconds behind his winning teammate.

The top Kawasaki was John Hopkins's finishing in 12th place.

Rookie Alex de Angelis was the only non-finisher in the race, when with five laps to go he crashed in the gravel from 10th place and his Gresini Honda almost rolled over him.

Classified

Pos  Rider             Make      Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    42:36.587
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    +   5.323
 3.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     +  10.600
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     +  13.288
 5.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    +  13.305
 6.  James Toseland    Yamaha    +  14.040
 7.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    +  15.150
 8.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    +  32.505
 9.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     +  33.003
10.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     +  38.354
11.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    +  44.284
12.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  +  49.857
13.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     +  49.871
14.  Toni Elias        Ducati    +  58.532
15.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    +  58.930
16.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  +1:05.643
17.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    +   1 Lap

Not classified:

     Rider             Make    On lap
     Alex de Angelis   Honda     16

Fastest lap: Stoner, 1:55.153 on lap 14