MOTOGP - KING CASEY OF QATAR
- 27 May 2013
Casey Stoner won his third straight Moto GP in Qatar by winning the delayed season-opener ahead of Yamaha pairing Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo after leading from flag to flag on Monday evening at Losail.
The Ducati Marlboro rider made a perfect start from pole and set a blistering pace that forced the Italian to settle for second in the final third of the race. Loris Capirossi made a great start to leap from fifth to second on the Rizla Suzuki ahead of the Fiat Yamahas of Rossi and Lorenzo. With the two team-mates exchanging positions twice during the first lap Stoner made his escape at the front.
Capirossi slowly started dropping back and Rossi, Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso and Lorenzo overtaking him before the former Ducati rider crashed on lap eight.
Rossi began his chase of Stoner and the gap between the two decreased to just under two seconds, before Rossi's pace started faltering on lap 11. By the end of the race Stoner had almost eight seconds on Rossi, who could however manage a sizeable lead on third-placed Lorenzo, who took the final podium place.
Colin Edwards classified his Tech-3 Yamaha in fourth place, ahead of Dovizioso in fifth and Alex de Angelis in sixth. The Gresini rider, however, is under investigation for banging his satellite Honda into Dani Pedrosa's factory entry while taking seventh place.
The Spaniard managed to keep the bike up straight despite the strong collision, just after he was overtaken by Chris Vermeulen's Suzuki for sixth place. Up until then, Pedrosa was having a strong race from 14th on the grid, despite still recovering from a wrist injury.
Vermeulen classified seventh, ahead of an impressive showing by Pramac Ducati rookie Mika Kallio and Toni Elias on the Honda Gresini. LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet completed the top ten.