Stoner contains Rossi

Casey Stoner has won the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix, run on Monday night after Sunday's rain cancellation, for the third year in a row. The Australian star led from start to finish, keeping his Ducati out of reigning world champion Valentino Rossi's reach for almost the entire 22 laps. Rossi's hopes were hit when he dropped from second to third at turn one, then fell victim to Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo shortly after. Realising the risk of giving Stoner space up front, the Italian swiftly retaliated, re-passing Lorenzo before the end of the first lap, then prizing second position from a fast-starting Loris Capirossi on lap three - but Stoner was already three seconds ahead. Rossi nibbled into the #27's lead, but was never able to get closer than 1.9sec and Stoner - who led every single track session from Rossi this weekend - smashed the Italian's challenge in the closing stages. Stoner crowned a dominant 7.771sec win, his first since bone graft surgery on his wrist, with a huge wheelie, while Rossi gave his team a conciliatory wave as he collected second. Lorenzo, second to Stoner on his MotoGP debut at Qatar last season, matched the Australian's wheelie display as he took a podium finish on his Bridgestone debut, albeit over eight-seconds from Rossi. Stoner later said that Monday evening's extra warm-up session had allowed him to improve his GP9 further and that his only concern during the race had been fuel consumption. After being passed by Rossi, Capirossi fell victim to Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, but worse was to follow when - on the ninth lap - he lost the front of his GSV-R and went down in a shower of sparks whilst trying to stay ahead of Colin Edwards. Dovizioso, making his factory Honda debut, had faded out of contention for third by the halfway stage, then lost fourth place to Edwards on lap 14. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider ran out of time to challenge Lorenzo, having paid the price for a bad start from the second row.

Moto GP "Losail"

The 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner will attempt to make it three consecutive season-opening victories in Qatar on Sunday having qualified in pole position at the floodlit Losail International Circuit on Saturday. The superb Australian who blitzed his opponents in the opening races of the year in 2007 and 2008 was in hot form again in the first qualifying session of the new single tyre supplier era, setting a 1’55.286s best time near the end of the session, to keep him nearly half a second ahead of the chasing pack. The ‘best of the rest’ was World Champion Valentino Rossi who registered his best time on his penultimate lap, a 0.473s margin behind Stoner. The Italian therefore starts his title defence second on the grid, a big improvement on his seventh place in qualifying at Qatar last year. Rossi’s team-mate, 2008 poleman Jorge Lorenzo completes the front row, courtesy of his 1’55.783s time which was just 0.024s behind his Fiat Yamaha colleague’s best. Like Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso was taking part in his first qualifying practice on Bridgestone tyres and the Italian youngster ended up in fourth spot. The new Repsol Honda rider will get away from the head of the second row on his factory debut as he attempts to match or improve on his impressive fourth place at Losail last year. Loris Capirossi, meanwhile, who starts his 20th World Championship season this weekend, will be on his compatriot Dovizioso’s shoulder having put himself fifth on the grid on the new and improved Suzuki GSV-R. Another experienced rider, Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards, completes the second row having lapped within a second of Stoner. Randy de Puniet of the satellite LCR Honda team caused something of a surprise in seventh place, with a best effort of 1’56.358, just over a second off pole position pace. Also slotting in on the third row, behind Frenchman De Puniet, are Australian Suzuki man Chris Vermeulen and San Marino rider Alex de Angelis of the San Carlo Honda Gresini team. Pramac Racing’s Mika Kallio completes the top ten as the best rookie qualifier. Dani Pedrosa qualified in 14th position on his Repsol Honda RC212V, handicapped by his left wrist and knee injuries, but still giving himself a chance of scoring points on Sunday. Comeback star Sete Gibernau is also riding injured, with an ongoing shoulder injury sustained in training in the winter, and he will start his first race in more than two years in 15th position. A huge high-speed highside crash for Nicky Hayden on turn two at the end of the session saw him unable to move up from 16th on the grid on his Ducati debut and he was stretchered away for medical attention. TheTamshee says: bring on the action, the Aussie kid has got the talent to take on the Doctor head to head on the track - but for me, Rossi is the master of tactics and mind games. The question remains how will the Yamaha shape up against the Ducati with the new one manufacturer tyre rules. Can't wait for the action to commence.

MotoGP "News"

Helmet manufacturer AGV have announced a spring release for a replica helmet christened the ‘Celebr-8’, a version of the lid used by Valentino Rossi to commemorate his eighth MotoGP World Championship win at Motegi last year. The helmet will be a limited edition of the GP-Tech design, itself produced with Rossi’s input and regarded as AGV’s most advanced product.
All the details used by Rossi will be present on the replica; the number eight, symbols of the sun and moon and his famous 46 logo, in addition to the chequered flag that symbolized the finale of Rossi’s title journey. TheTamshee says: I have bench tested a few of the AGV range over the years with no complaints regarding quality or protection offered. AGV certainly produce top of the range head protection. See picture below, of my favourite model - which is still in use to the present day. Jamie Whitham replica "TheJoker"

Click here for Jamie Whitham

Casey Stoner "Losail"

The quickest lap time of Qatar night test, improved performance from his tender wrist and confirmation of swingarm improvements leave Australian positive.
He might only be doing it on short runs, but Casey Stoner is proving that his recovering wrist is no obstacle to putting in blisteringly fast laps. As he did at Sepang last month, the Ducati Marlboro man ended the Qatar test as the quickest rider courtesy of a blistering last session lap; in contrast, Stoner was pleased with the response of his scaphoid.
“I’m obviously very happy with the lap time and the rhythm we put together today, although I would have liked to have been able to get a few more laps in and test some more stuff,” said the former MotoGP World Champion, nearly a second ahead of any other rider on track after clocking a 1’55.744 lap.
Stoner fell at turn two of the Losail International Circuit shortly after recording his mercurial time, but was able to continue with his workload onboard a second Desmosedici GP9 before bowing to poor track conditions and cutting the test short. His Tuesday night track time had been enough to pick up some important information and work further with the new carbon fibre swingarm brought to the test.
“We still managed to try a few things with the electronics – some of them good and some not so good and we confirmed the good feeling I had yesterday with the new swingarm, although we still need more time to work on it and that’s what we’ll be doing at Jerez,” confirmed the Australian, who can expect to be in even better condition for that next test in the south of Spain. TheTamshee says: Stoner has proved over the last few seasons that he is a top quality rider of the two wheeler - winning the MotoGP title in 2007 on "In My Opinion" a superior bike - that season, the all conquering "Ducati" shod with the finest "Bridgestone" rubber in town. Normality prevailed in the following campaign - with the "Doctor" reining supreme once again in 2008.

Practise Laps

The Tamsh is determined that 2009 is going to be my break through season and finally give Rossi, Stoner and the also rans on the Moto GP grid a run for there money. As you can see from the photo, I've been putting in the practise laps, wet track, no problem.

The Doctor

The Moto GP eight-time world champion was drawing the curtains when he fell, smashing a glass table and injuring his hand and left foot. A statement from his Yamaha team said Rossi went to his local hospital where "several stitches were required on each wound".
Rossi's plans have not been hampered by the accident. The Italian will leave for Malaysia on Tuesday to start testing his new bike for the 2009 season. However, at this stage it is not clear whether his injuries will allow him to ride comfortably this week. Rossi, a lifelong Inter Milan fan, has recently returned to make his home in Italy after a spell living in London, having reached a settlement with the Italian tax authorities over unpaid revenue. In recent months Rossi has swapped two wheels for four, finishing 11th in the Rally of New Zealand and testing a Formula One Ferrari. He has another two-year contract with Yamaha after which he says he is keen to tackle a full season as a world rally championship driver.