Image 55 of 67 from MotoGP 800cc Round 1 – Ducati draws first blood

Nicky Hayden

Nicky Hayden
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Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha team manager Jeremy Burgess and Valentino Rossi Rossi and the team working on the biuke set-up during practice The Doctor at work
Colin Edwards talks tires Valentino Rossi The tire warmers go on the M1 with a practice session approaching Rossi says his prayers before getting on the bike
Edwards explains what he's feeling the bike doing at the end of a session Image 10 of 67 from MotoGP 800cc Round 1 – Ducati draws first blood Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi
Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner side-by-side at 300 km/h Stoner and his Ducati crew The Doctor limbers up Valentino Rossi, Tony Elias and Casey Stoner side-by-side at 300 km/
Early on the first lap and Rossi leads Stoner, Elias, Pedrosa, Edwards and Capirossi Colin Edwards watches Rossi's crew discussions Valentino Rossi Rossi, Stoner and Pedrosa
Edwards on the grid A very happy Ducati team portrait Casey, Loris and the Ducati team Casey Stoner
Casey Stoner leads Valentino Rossi On the rostrum His first win A hapopy Ducati garage
Casey Stoner leads Valentino Rossi Loris Capirossi Loris Capirossi Stoner snares the lead
Casey Stoner leads Valentino Rossi John Hopkins almost gave the Suzuki its first podium in the dry Chris Vermeulen scored seventh - on some tracks he'll be podium material Hopkins
Hopkins Randy dePunier Randy dePunier Olivier Jacque
Olivier Jacque leads Alex Barros, Sylvain Guintoli and Alex Hoffman Image 42 of 67 from MotoGP 800cc Round 1 – Ducati draws first blood Melandri, Hopkins and Capirossi Hopkins and Pedrosa fought hard over third spot
The end of the first lap - from behind Carlos Checa Dani Pedrosa and his crew chief Kenny Roberts Junior
Marco Melandri Honda chief Mr Tokuma Hayden Shinya Nakano
Checa gets it out of shape Hayden leads Pedrosa Nicky Hayden Shinya Nakano
Shinya Nakano Toni Elias Toni Elias Hopkins closing in on Pedrosa
Pedrosa Pedrosa An eleventh hour sponsorship deal will enable the Kenny Roberts team to do the full season Melandri
Hayden Shinya Nakano Chris Vermeulen
Article Summary
March 10, 2007 Ducati drew first blood in the 2007 version of MotoGP with 800cc engines at the first round of the 18-race series in Qatar today. Australian 21 year-old rising star Casey Stoner made a perfect start with the Ducati Marlboro Team, riding to a magnificent victory aboard his Desmosedici GP7. Stoner rode a perfectly judged race, leading the first lap and then battling with former World Champion Valentino Rossi throughout. The pair swapped positions several times, separated by just a few tenths for most of the 22 laps, Stoner crossing the finish line 2.8 seconds ahead after setting a new track record on the final lap. One of the highlights of the race was the speed of the four Ducati-engined machines in the field, sometimes with a margin of 20 km/h over the fastest of the others at the end of the kilometre-long Qatar front straight. Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha M1 was a clear second and Dani Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda RC212V was a narrow third ahead of the Rizla Suzuki of John Hopkins, indicating at least four different makes of machinery will be capable of winning a race this season. Stoner's odds dropped from 0/1 to 5/1 overnight on world betting markets.

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