Qatar MotoGP race to run on Monday

The Grand Prix of Qatar has been postponed to a Monday night slot after a Sunday night downpour at Losail forced the opening round of the MotoGP season to be called off.

The race, scheduled to start at 11pm local time, was delayed just as the riders were about to start the formation lap, and got cancelled half an hour later, when the rain intensified.

The riders were concerned that, as well as the track being covered in standing water, visibility would be almost non-existent as the light from the floodlights reflected off the water and spray.

A midnight meeting between the teams and the organisers resulted in the decision to postpone the race to a 9pm local time slot on Monday, following a new warm-up at 6:30pm.

The 125cc event had already been truncated after only four laps, with riders being awarded half points, while the 250cc round was also forced to be shortened to 13 laps to allow the MotoGP race to start on time.

The decision to postpone until Monday evening received a mixed response from riders.

Pole-sitter Casey Stoner is concerned that the weather could intervene again, although current forecasts suggest better conditions tomorrow night.

"This is not a good idea," Stoner told Gazzetta dello Sport. "We have no guarantee it won't rain. Today's downpour has also brought sand over the track, so there's also a safety risk."

But Hayate Kawasaki rider Marco Melandri felt that having travelled to Qatar and gone through practice and qualifying it made more sense to race on Monday than to reschedule for later in the season, amid suggestions that Losail should take the September slot left vacant by the Hungarian GP's cancellation.

"For sure I would like to race tomorrow and go on holiday in September," Melandri told the official MotoGP website.

"We are here, we've been testing for days, and we are ready. It's going to be hard to change all the plans but I don't want to go back home - I want to race, because I've had a smell of the race and then had to come back into the garage."

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Iannone wins truncated Qatar race

The opening 125cc race of the 2009 season was red flagged after a downpour hit the Losail track in the Qatar desert, with Andrea Iannone winning the shortened race.

The grand prix, scheduled to run for 18 laps, saw the first spots of rain hitting the floodlit circuit on the third lap, with the red flag shown just two laps later, after the riders had completed only four laps.

But thanks to article 1.23.3 of the sporting regulations, which states that half points can be awarded if it is impossible to restart the race and if more than three laps have been completed, the organisers were able to consider the race finished.

After four laps Aprilia Ongetta rider Iannone was leading Aspar Aprilia's Julian Simon by less than two tenths thanks to a fine start by the Italian from third on the grid, and a bad start by the Spaniard.

Simon dropped to sixth at the first corner after starting from pole, but in the end can consider himself lucky to finish second because he crashed right after taking the red flag.

Ajo Derbi's Sandro Cortese took the third, his maiden podium, despite being already over five seconds behind the leaders, also thanks to a massive high-side by KTM's Marc Marquez while running third on the fourth and last lap. Pol Espargaro's works Derbi followed in fourth.

Simon's team-mate Bradley Smith was also left disappointed by finishing fifth after starting from second on the grid, while Aprilia Ongetta's 15-year-old rider Jonas Folger ended up sixth, his career-best result, after starting 10th.

Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones Aprilia), Stefan Bradl (Kiefer Aprilia), Danny Webb (Degraaf Aprilia) and Esteve Rabat (Blusens Aprilia) completed the top ten.

Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Andrea Iannone Aprilia 8m37.245s 2. Julian Simon Aprilia + 0.180s 3. Sandro Cortese Derbi + 5.211s 4. Pol Espargaro Derbi + 5.769s 5. Bradley Smith Aprilia + 6.650s 6. Jonas Folger Aprilia + 6.701s 7. Nicolas Terol Aprilia + 6.771s 8. Stefan Bradl Aprilia + 7.592s 9. Daniel Webb Aprilia + 8.169s 10. Esteve Rabat Aprilia + 8.678s 11. Dominique Aegerter Derbi + 12.232s 12. Sergio Gadea Aprilia + 12.237s 13. Scott Redding Aprilia + 12.360s 14. Simone Corsi Aprilia + 13.754s 15. Johann Zarco Aprilia + 13.783s 16. Cameron Beaubier KTM + 13.893s 17. Efren Vazquez Derbi + 14.170s 18. Joan Olive Derbi + 14.452s 19. Lorenzo Zanetti Aprilia + 15.310s 20. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia + 16.415s 21. Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia + 18.602s 22. Randy Krummenacher Aprilia + 19.355s 23. Jasper Iwema Honda + 28.034s 24. Luca Marconi Aprilia + 28.114s 25. Lukas Sembera Aprilia + 28.199s 26. Alexis Masbou Loncin + 28.272s 27. Tomoyoshi Koyama Loncin + 28.544s 28. Luca Vitali Aprilia + 53.927s Retirements:Rider Bike Laps Marc Marquez KTM 3 Michael Ranseder Haojue 3 Matthew Hoyle Haojue 0

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Ezpeleta: Monday race the right call

MotoGP boss Carmelo Ezpeleta says it was the right decision to delay the opening MotoGP round of the season until Monday night, following the race's cancellation due to torrential rain on Sunday.

The 125cc race earlier on Sunday evening had to be red-flagged after just four laps because of a heavy downpour, the 250cc race was delayed and then shortened, and another storm hit the Losail circuit just as the MotoGP field was preparing to start the formation lap last night.

Ezpeleta, who is the head of MotoGP organiser Dorna, described the weather as "extraordinary" and says the majority of teams agreed to accept the Qatar sporting authority's invitation to run the race on Monday.

"The QMMF offered us the choice to run the race tomorrow, and as it was a very important decision we wanted to consult with all the team managers," said Ezpeleta.

"The postponement was accepted by a large majority. This has been an extraordinary decision in extraordinary circumstances."

The teams' backing was given to the postponement proposal in a midnight meeting at the Losail circuit. Yamaha Racing manager director Lin Jarvis said the Monday evening timeslot would be an inconvenience, but was better than cancelling the race outright.

"Obviously we're disappointed not to race tonight under normal circumstances, but due to this totally bizarre situation of such incredibly heavy rain in the desert, we can't," he said.

"It's a great pity for all the fans at home and those here. After considerable internal discussion with Masahiko Nakajima, Davide Brivio, Daniele Romagnoli and of course Valentino and Jorge, Yamaha's decision was to fully support the proposal to race tomorrow."

Dani Pedrosa was one of the riders who stood to benefit from a cancellation, as it would have given him a further fortnight before Motegi for his injured wrist and knee to fully heal. But the Honda rider agreed that having already travelled to Qatar it was better to ensure a race took place.

"At first we thought the race was going to be called off completely and I can't say that this would have been bad for me personally because my condition is not 100 per cent," he said.

"But we came to Qatar to race so we'll come back and go for the maximum result tomorrow."

MotoGP had already agreed that it would not attempt to run a night race in wet conditions due to the glare from the floodlights reflecting off the surface water and spray. The downpour did not relent for over two hours anyway, leaving the circuit saturated into the early hours of the morning.

Doha normally receives just eight days of rain per year, but so far three of the six days of MotoGP running at the track this year have been hit by adverse weather.

Rain interrupted the opening day of last month's test, and another shower delayed 250cc qualifying on Saturday night, before the repeated downpours yesterday that affected all three races.

Claude Denis, president of the FIM road racing commission, said there had never been any question of attempting to run the event in the rain.

"For safety reasons it was not possible to race in the night due to the reflection of the lights on the track," he said. "This decision had already been taken a few years ago when we first decided to run a night race in Qatar.

"On behalf of the FIM I am very happy that we could postpone the race until tomorrow. It is important for the championship, especially at the first race, and I would like to thank Dorna, QMMF, IRTA and the MotoGP teams for helping reach this decision together."

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Capirossi apologises to crew after crash

Loris Capirossi apologised to his Suzuki team after crashing out of fifth place early in the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Italian had grabbed second place at the start, but soon fell back and then slid out on lap eight.

He said the bike had lost a lot of performance as the track conditions changed following Sunday night's storms.

"I feel really sorry for the whole team, because all winter we have worked so hard and have gone quite well so this was hard to take," said Capirossi.

"It was really strange today because our practice has been good, but in this evening's warm-up I had a big problem with chatter, this hadn't happened all weekend and then during the race it was the same.

"The front tyre didn't work like normal either, I had done 25 to 30 laps on the same tyre with no problems and the feeling had always been good, but today after just five laps it felt like it was destroyed.

"This race is over now and we have to concentrate on the next one and find out why the things that happened today occurred."

Team boss Paul Denning was determined to get to the bottom of Suzuki's race night slump.

"Without doubt it was the right thing for MotoGP to stay on and race here at Qatar tonight, but unfortunately for Rizla Suzuki our bike worked quite differently than it had done all weekend for both riders," he said.

"We suffered from a serious lack of front grip and some bad vibration which restricted both the guys. Clearly some of our competitors were far less affected by the different conditions and the team - and factory - will be working very hard to understand the difference in performance between tonight and the rest of the weekend."

Chris Vermeulen gave Suzuki some consolation by taking seventh on the team's other bike, despite also falling off the pace.

"The track conditions were a bit different to what it had been all weekend and it was very different to the test which was how I had the bike set-up, and to be honest I really struggled for front-end feeling," he said.

"Towards the end of the race the rear tyre performance dropped off as well so that's something we've really got to work on.

"It was not the result we wanted because we were hoping to be in the top-five. We have got quite a bit of work to do to catch up to the podium so we need to put our thinking caps on and go to Motegi and have a better performance."

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Rossi closes on Stoner in the warm-up

Casey Stoner has continued his perfect score in Qatar by also topping the warm-up, after leading every MotoGP session so far this weekend.

The Ducati Marlboro rider, winner of the last two editions of the race at Losail, did not show the kind of dominance displayed in previous sessions however, with Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi just 62 thousandths of a second behind the time of 1m56.697s set by the Australian.

The rest of the field, however, saw much bigger gaps to the top two, who will start the race from the top two spots on the grid.

Andrea Dovizioso, with his Repsol Honda, managed to set the third fastest time ahead of the Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo with the factory entry and Colin Edwards on the Tech 3-backed satellite bike, but this trio was around seven tenths behind Stoner.

Honda Gresini's Alex de Angelis and Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen were around one second behind, followed by Randy de Puniet's LCR Honda and Marco Melandri's Hayate Kawasaki, with James Toseland's Tech 3 Yamaha completing the top ten.

Nicky Hayden, who is evaluating whether to take part in the race after a big shunt in qualifying yesterday, was 16th fastest with his Ducati Marlboro.

Pos Rider Bike Time Gap 1. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m56.697s 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m56.759s + 0.062s 3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m57.379s + 0.682s 4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m57.399s + 0.702s 5. Colin Edwards Yamaha 1m57.449s + 0.752s 6. Alex de Angelis Honda 1m57.658s + 0.961s 7. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m57.700s + 1.003s 8. Randy de Puniet Honda 1m57.874s + 1.177s 9. Marco Melandri Kawasaki 1m58.097s + 1.400s 10. James Toseland Yamaha 1m58.344s + 1.647s 11. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m58.361s + 1.664s 12. Toni Elaas Honda 1m58.556s + 1.859s 13. Sete Gibernau Ducati 1m58.878s + 2.181s 14. Daniel Pedrosa Honda 1m58.902s + 2.205s 15. Mika Kallio Ducati 1m59.129s + 2.432s 16. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m59.398s + 2.701s 17. Yuki Takahashi Honda 1m59.679s + 2.982s 18. Niccolo Canepa Ducati 1m59.912s + 3.215s

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Rossi expected second position

Valentino Rossi said that he is exactly where he and the Yamaha team expected to be after qualifying second on the grid for the Qatar Grand Prix.

The defending world champion, who is aiming for a record-equalling seventh premier class title this year, was marginally under half a second slower in qualifying than polesitter Casey Stoner.

"Second is exactly what we expected, so we have reached our objective," Rossi told Italia1 TV. "We are very close to Stoner, but a bit slower in some spots, so we have to understand how to fix that, tonight, or tomorrow.

"Starting second is fundamentally important, because the tests we had here were pretty bad, and we have made a big improvement on that this weekend, and even an improvement from this afternoon to tonight, so I'm quite happy with that."

Rossi said that the new-for-2009 reduced qualifying length of 45 minutes was challenging, but probably played into the hands of his Yamaha team.

"In my opinion the new qualifying is not bad," the 71-times race-winner added. "The 45-minute session is tough because you need to do things quickly, but we can manage to go very quick, so it's okay."

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Qatar MotoGP race to run on Monday

The Grand Prix of Qatar has been postponed to a Monday night slot after a Sunday night downpour at Losail forced the opening round of the MotoGP season to be called off.

The race, scheduled to start at 11pm local time, was delayed just as the riders were about to start the formation lap, and got cancelled half an hour later, when the rain intensified.

The riders were concerned that, as well as the track being covered in standing water, visibility would be almost non-existent as the light from the floodlights reflected off the water and spray.

A midnight meeting between the teams and the organisers resulted in the decision to postpone the race to a 9pm local time slot on Monday, following a new warm-up at 6:30pm.

The 125cc event had already been truncated after only four laps, with riders being awarded half points, while the 250cc round was also forced to be shortened to 13 laps to allow the MotoGP race to start on time.

The decision to postpone until Monday evening received a mixed response from riders.

Pole-sitter Casey Stoner is concerned that the weather could intervene again, although current forecasts suggest better conditions tomorrow night.

"This is not a good idea," Stoner told Gazzetta dello Sport. "We have no guarantee it won't rain. Today's downpour has also brought sand over the track, so there's also a safety risk."

But Hayate Kawasaki rider Marco Melandri felt that having travelled to Qatar and gone through practice and qualifying it made more sense to race on Monday than to reschedule for later in the season, amid suggestions that Losail should take the September slot left vacant by the Hungarian GP's cancellation.

"For sure I would like to race tomorrow and go on holiday in September," Melandri told the official MotoGP website.

"We are here, we've been testing for days, and we are ready. It's going to be hard to change all the plans but I don't want to go back home - I want to race, because I've had a smell of the race and then had to come back into the garage."