MotoGP

Stoner pulled away from Rossi from the get go in Qatar

The 2009 MotoGP World Championship season finally got underway at the Losail Circuit in Qatar overnight, with Australia’s former series champion Casey Stoner taking an emphatic victory under the bright flood lights of the middle eastern circuit.

Stoner’s victory marked his third straight victory at Losail, but this one was one of his more dominant performances as he won by over seven seconds ahead of defending world champion Valentino Rossi and multiple times 250cc World Champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Ducati Marlboro rider Stoner admitted after the race that he had to adapt to his bike being underpowered due to fuel consumption reasons, which basically means that MotoGP bikes these days are electronically programmed to last the race distance – as the race goes on then the bike becomes slightly less powerful, or they can just detune it from the beginning.

“We knew this circuit is demanding for fuel consumption and I had to adapt my style a little to keep the pace up and hold the advantage over Valentino but finally we didn’t have problems at all with it,” Stoner explained.

Fiat Yamaha teammates Rossi and Lorenzo were as strong as ever by rounding out the podium, and Texan Colin Edwards’ fourth position on the satellite Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team bike is a great indicator of the YZR-M1’s performance capabilities this year.

In fact, the only Yamaha down the order was James Toseland in 16th position and just out of the points, and the pressure must be constantly weighing on his shoulders following a bout of nasty pre-season crashes.

But consider Yamaha’s consistency compared to Ducati’s and you have rookie Mika Kallio as the second best Ducati on the Pramac machine in eighth, while the injured Nicky Hayden was 12th and Niccolo Canepa in 17th. MotoGP returnee Sete Gibernau was 13th on his Grupo Francisco Hernando Ducati.

An entertaining battle was had between former teammates Hayden and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, both who were riding injured and crossed the line in 11th and 12th positions respectively. The pair finished just over three tenths of a second apart.

Marco Melandri has impressed in his short time on the Hayate Racing Team, finishing 14th in Qatar, but that isn’t really a true indication of his performance over the course of the weekend as he surprised many with his determination and speed in various sessions.

Rizla Suzuki didn’t quite live up to their pre-season form as Chris Vermeulen was best in eighth, while teammate Loris Capirossi crashed out on lap eight of the race. Don’t give up hope just yet though, because I have a feeling they’ll be strong in Japan at Motegi’s next round of the season.

Edwards proved Yamaha has a great package for 2009

An interesting point of this year’s series is that the morning session on Friday has been axed and the rest of the sessions have been reduced to just 45 minutes, so Qatar was our first real indication of how the riders will adapt to less track time.

The end result it seems is that if a team provides a good bike that’s working straight out of the truck then it will be okay, but if a rider gets off on the wrong foot with a bad set-up then it’s going to be very difficult for them to recover in time for the race.

This is where the Yamaha is going to come in handy because it seems the easiest to get on and ride, but you can never discount the might of Stoner on the Desmosedici, especially now that they have sorted out the issue of it pumping off the corners.

British Superbike
The opening British Superbike Championship round was run overnight at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, and the standout of the round has to be Leon Camier on the new big bang Yamaha YZF-R1, who took a race victory despite the bike being brand new heading into the weekend.

The team cancelled its European testing duties and basically used the settings and feedback from Ben Spies’ Yamaha World Superbike Team, which has worked well for Camier as he even surprised himself at the round by being so competitive.

Although Yamaha hasn’t been competitive in BSB for quite some time, let’s not forget that Camier is on the Airwaves Yamaha team – formerly Airwaves Ducati, which won the series last year with Shane Byrne.

Camier has ridden both traditional four-cylinders and the twin-cylinder Ducati over the past couple of years, so he may just have the perfect background to make the most of Yamaha’s new R1.

Sylvain Guintoli and Suzuki took the overall victory in another solid effort for the ex-MotoGP rider, and he must be enjoying racing up towards the front of the pack again following a few miserable seasons in grand prix racing.

Top Aussie was Glen Richards on his HM Plant Honda with third overall following second and fifth place results. While his regular teammate Josh Brookes sat at home with Visa problems, teammate for the weekend Steve Plater had a top ride to finish third in race two after crashing out of the lead in the opening race.

Fulltime BSB rookie Jason O’Halloran finished an impressive ninth overall for SMT Honda after scoring an eighth and 12th places, improving rapidly over the course of the weekend after only minimal testing time.

South Australian David Johnson finished with 19th and 20th place finishes on his privateer Yamaha, returning for yet another season of BSB racing. Billy McConnell made a brilliant return to the Supersport class by taking victory over Plater.

American Motocross

Kiwi Ben Townley is out of the AMA Outdoor Nationals

American Honda announced today that Honda Red Bull Racing rider Ben Townley has successfully undergone surgery in Europe to repair an ongoing complication in his right shoulder, which has been affecting him ever since he joined the team at the beginning of last season.

“It’s been an unfortunate two years in my career but the Honda Red Bull Racing team and all my sponsors have stuck by me,” said Townley, a former World Motocross MX2 and East Coast Lites Supercross Champion. “My shoulder was at the point where I could not commit to racing 100 percent and with further tests and medical opinions we were able to pinpoint the problem.”

Townley’s surgery and rehab will be through his long time sponsors Red Bull, which has one of the greatest athlete recovery programs in the world and is used by many of their extreme sports athletes.

“Red Bull will be lending all their support through their athlete performance team and will help me focus on my rehab and getting back to full health. The next step after that will, of course, be getting back on the race track,” Townley concluded.

It is likely that Townley will remain in Belgium for up to three more weeks before returning to the USA to refine his rehabilitation program.

The decision to undergo surgery has ruled the Kiwi out of this year’s Outdoor Motocross Nationals for the second year in a row, which is very much a shame as many believe that he could be the next bright star if he can remain injury free for a few seasons.