Buzzin MotoGP

Yesterday was the start of the season for the Moto GP Championship and what a start for the first ever night race at the Losail Circuit in Qatar, with some fantastic racing.

125cc

In an exciting Moto GP opener, Sergio Gadea on the Bancaja Aspar took the first place in his 70th race despite suffering from a shoulder injury.

It was anybody’s race as the front riders chopped and changed lap after lap with retirements coming in the final laps for Raffaele de Rosa on the Onde 2000 KTM who collided with Olive and the reigning world champion Gabor Talmacsi who had to stop due to mechanical problems.

Joan Olive took the second place but there was a battle over the third place with Stefan Bradl on the Grizzly Gas Keiffer finally nabbed the third step on the podium.

Right behind was Mike di Meglio on the Ajo Motorsport and Blusens Aprilia rookie rider Scott Redding.

Gadea had an amazing ride after a weekend of crashes for which he received treatment and starting from the second row of the grid.

Bradley Smith ‘the ginger ninja’ seemed to be back in the same situation he was in last year be it on a new bike and a new team. He appeared to have a mechanical problem during the warm-up lap which came back to haunt him whilst leading the race on the  second lap.

Here are the results of the race:

S. Gadea (38:09.444) , J.Olive (38:10.376), S. Bradl (38:11.104), M.Di Meglio (38:11.215), S.Redding (38:11.263), D.Webb (38:17.133), S.Corsi (38:18.128), P.Espargaro (38:18.137), E. Vazquez (38:18.498), N.Terol (38:20.346), S. Cortese (38:20.389), G. Talmacsi (38:22.062), S. Bianco (38:22.153), A. Iannone (38:29.530), M. Ranseder (38:33.019), B. Smith (38:33.334), D. Aegerter (38:38.850), P. Nieto (38:42.335), T. Nakagami (38:42.790), P.Tutusaus ( 38:43.093), L. Zanetti (38:46.140), R.Krummenacher (38:46.198), R.Lasser (38:54.761), E. Rabat (39:05.884), L. Rossi (39:23.946), R De Rosa (31:48.628), D. Lombardi (24:49.308), H. Van Den Berg (22:20.384), T.Koyama (17:13.628), S. Bonsey (10:53.505), J. Cluzel (8:48.338), A. Masbou (2:18.590), R. Lacalendola (2:21.214), R. Muresan (0:00:000)

250cc

The rookie, Mattia Pasini took the victory on the 250cc Polaris World Aprilia from the second row of the grid and with only two laps to go.

The Pepe Team Toth rider, Hector Barbera was second after a battle with pole man Alex Debon when Pasini sneaked through to take the first place slot.

Mika Kallio on the Red Bull KTM bike eventually took the third place on the rostrum with Debon finally finishing in fourth place even after setting the fastest lap of the race beating his own pole time.

Yuki Takahashi on the JiR Team Scot came in to take fifth after battling away with the front runners during the race.

Here are the results:

M. Pasini (40:16.202), H. Barbera (40:16.759), M. Kallio (40:17.231), A. Debon (40:17.620), Y. Takahashi (40:29.146), A. Bautista (40:30.682), K. Abraham (40:32.923), R. Locatelli (40:35.189), A. Espargaro (40:48.434), H. Faubel (40:57.304), J. Simon (40:57.659), F. Lai (40:57.896), R. Wilairot (40:59.394), M. Poggiali (41:00.430), T. Luthi (41:04.962), H. Aoyana (41:27.233), D. Pradita (42:21.663) A. Baldolini (28:44.567), L. Pesek (24:22.590), M. Simoncelli (14:20.281), I. Toth (8:33.203) unfinished riders : M. Hernandez , E. Laverty

Moto GP

The reigning World Champion, Casey Stoner began his title defense by taking the win at the start of the 2008 season after starting on the front row of the grid for the first time in his career.

Rookie Jorge Lorenzo, the reigning 250cc World Champion came in with a very impressive second place, although 5 seconds behind Stoner, on his first race with the big boys.

Third place man was the Spaniard, Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda but it wasn’t an easy race for the 2007 World Champion runner-up after starting from the third row of the grid and getting jostled along the way.

Andrea Dovizioso made a fantastic debut by taking fourth spot from the five-times Moto GP Champion, Valentino Rossi on the last lap followed by James Toseland in his first Grand Prix and Colin Edwards.

There were only two retirements during the race, Chris Vermeulen who had mechanical problems and Alex de Angelis who crashed out with only five laps to go.

Here are the results:

C. Stoner (42:36.587), J. Lorenzo (42:41.910), D. Pedrosa (42:47.187), A. Dovizioso (42:49.875), V. Rossi (42:49.892), J. Toseland (42:50..627), C. Edwards (42:51.737), L. Capirossi (43:09.092), R. De Puniet ( 43:09.590), N. Hayden (43:14.941), M. Melandri (43:20.871), J. Hopkins (43:26.444), S. Nakano (42:26.458), A. Elias (43:35.119), S. Guintoli (43:35.517), A. West (43:42.230), C. Vermeulen (43:42.230), A. De Angelis (unclassified)