MotoGP 2007 - Qatar

Well, I am sitting here "watching" the race on the MotoGP Live Timing, off the www.motogp.com webpage, as Qatar is not too far out of NZ time.

Ducati, and Stoner definitely has the fastest bike in the field, it is constantly topping 310kmh, where as the likes of Rossi struggles to get past 300kmh. Sure, the difference may not seem like much, but standing still and having somebody go past you at 10kmh shows the sorta difference they are experiencing. Whether this top-end is matched by a drag out of the corner, I am not sure, but obviously Stoner is not struggling, even if Capriossi has left the field for some reason (hard to tell from laptimes/positions listed on the screen).

It wasnt until the second half of the race that the riders got into the 1minute 56second laptimes, or at least Stoner and Rossi, with Pedrosa in third putting in nearly a 58second laptime. Edwards obviously fell back from the start, and has taken some time to get up to speed, but is still 4seconds back from Hopkins.

Speaking of Hopkins, how the hell can he perfom so well with the injuries he is still suffering from his crash earlier in the pre-season.

Now its at the 16th lap, and the two troublemakers at the front have hauled out over four seconds on third placed Pedrosa, followed by Hopkins and then Edwards even further back.

19th lap... Rossi pulls up to within 0.061 seconds of Stoner, and back from there its six seconds beore anyone. Hopefully Stoner doesn't stack it... but his speed through the traps was 314kmh, against Rossi's 294kmh... 20kmh is a huge difference.

20th, Stoner pulls back a few bits of a second

21st - Stoner once again pulls a few more precious fractions

Now the Live Timing has had a hernia at the last minute and I can only see the 7th place and below, mother...

Logged out, logged back in

Race over

Stoner
Rossi
Pedrosa
Hopkins
Melandri
Edwards
Vermulin
Hayden
Barros
Nakano