As day turns to night Stoner is the best
Qatar Test: Day/Night 1
(29/02/2008)
Racing at night. It's like PGR for real. Everyone admits that it's a brilliant way to liven up a crap circuit. It seems everyone is really excited about seeing a MotoGP race run at night. The thrill of witnessing the light sparkling off the most exclusive motorcycle racing machines in the world to a dead black background will be something else.
The riders love the idea too. Usually change is greeted with a long list of complaints among the self-loving MotoGP riders - all keen to have an excuse ready in their pocket should it all go Ellisonish. But, as day 1 (or night 1?) of the first ever night test finished, the sulking, even in the silence of the desert night, was inaudable. The MotoGP stars loved it. Even the riders like Rossi and Hayden who, for whatever reason, underachieved were still full of praise.
In short every person in the known universe universally agreed that this whole 'night race' idea was one of utter excitement. Everyone, that is, but the boring twat Danni Pedrosa.
Thumbelina is a special guy. He finds explosions dull. He'd complain about winning the lottery. He'd even, as we know, pick faults in a MotoGP championship designed just for him. He could easily be the dullest, miserable knee-high person currently occupying this, or any, planet.
So what didn't Danni like about the night test? Was he up too late? Was the black, blank background still too interesting? No (or 'maybe' at least). Danni was upset because the lights hurt his eyes.
Unbelievable.
Meanwhile others got on with it.
The 2008 MotoGP championship will be won by Casey Stoner. Of this there is no doubt.
The test was seven hours long. Within the first 45 minutes the son-of-a-convict posted a lap three seconds faster than everyone else. This time was never beaten.
2008 looks like being completely crap again.
"It's those Bridgestone tyres!" cry the anti-Ducati brigade…but Stoner was the only Bridgestone rider in the top five.
"It's Ducati!" cry the Rossi fans…but the next Ducati was Elias in eleventh.
"Err….he's an uneducated Australian!" Anthony West has also proven this doesn't mean success.
Adventure travel to some of the world's least visited destinations. Take a river cruise down the Congo, visit remote tribes in Angola or dive in the Dahlak Islands of Eritrea. Oh and we can arrange travel to MotoGP if you want!
So the season's gonna be crap? Yup. Or at least the battle for the champion will be. But as that aspect, like Biaggi's real hair, fades away and looks more like a rotting turd with each second that goes by, thankfully, help at hand. The new boys!
King Midas Lorenzo. Randy 'he'll never succeed on a Honda' de Puniet. Andrea 'in the shadow of Lorenzo's head' Dovizioso. Piano boy Toseland and the certified insane Alex de Angelis filled the next five positions. And this is very, very good news. Even better news, nearly, than when we learnt that Foggy's bid to start a MotoGP team had failed.
Losers? Well the old boys really. But none more than the Italian horse-faced donkey Marco 'I was once fresh' Melandri.
Last season Marco suffered from extreme randomness. Sometimes fast. Sometimes slow. Sometimes both. For 2008 he seems to already cast that problem aside as he is now just consistently rubbish…whilst his team-mate dominates.
Team Suzuki had another poor day. Being in the middle of a desert there was never really much hope of rain for Vermeulen to shine whereas Loris was obviously less motivated than ever knowing that Ben Spies is already set to replace him at Suzuki for 2009.
Qatar Test: Day 1
1. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 55.330 secs
2. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1min 56.019 secs
3. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1min 56.062 secs
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Scot Team (M) 1min 56.121 secs
5. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Tech 3 (M) 1min 56.251 secs
6. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1min 56.571 secs
7. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 56.614 secs
8. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 56.621 secs
9. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1min 56.749 secs
10. Colin Edwards USA Yamaha Tech 3 (M) 1min 56.762 secs
11. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 1min 57.007 secs
12. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 57.010 secs
13. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1min 57.223 secs
14. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 57.522 secs
15. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 57.551 secs
16. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 57.593 secs
17. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 1min 57.644 secs
18. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 57.787 secs
