Stoner's commanding MotoGP win

Casey Stoner has firmed up as the early favourite to take out the 2011 MotoGP world championship after cruising to a comfortable victory at the Losail race track in Qatar, his 24th MotoGP victory.

The Repsol Honda team dominated early in the race with Stoner and Dani Pedrosa scrapping for the lead, but after the race Pedrosa cited his shoulder injury as the reason for dropping his pace. He eventually finished in third place with Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo proving he's still a threat by nabbing second spot on the podium.

Stoner finished 3.4 seconds ahead of Lorenzo to take the full 25 points, the first time in eight years that Honda rider has won the opening round of the MotoGP season (Rossi did it in 2003 at Suzuka).

"After a great pre-season, we came into this race weekend and everything kept getting better and better for us," said Stoner. "This morning in warm-up I had a few issues getting a good feeling with the bike, carrying a full tank of fuel and this issue also affected me in the early part of the race.

"We knew though as the fuel level decreased and the tyres aged, that my bike would come back to me. Dani came past and I decided to follow to see where he was strong and where I was weak. Then when I started to feel more confident with the bike and had more grip and better turning, I decided to push forwards and take advantage.

"Tonight the bike was fantastic, as it has been for all the sessions and I'm very proud to be racing for Repsol Honda and to take my first victory in the first race. It is a great way to start the season! I'm really happy with how everything has gone and the way the team has all worked together, a big thanks to Honda and my best wishes to Japan in this difficult time."

The early part of the race were the most tantalising, with Pedrosa taking the lead initially, only to be trumped by reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniards then felt Casey Stoner approaching and the Repsol Honda's speed advantage saw them steadily pull away, but in the end Pedrosa could not maintain the pace and had to settle for third.

Further down the order Repsol Honda's third rider Andrea Dovizioso finished fourth ahead of San Carlo Honda Gresini Team's Marco Simoncelli, who is looking good to take a few podiums in 2011.

Sixth place went to Yamaha's new American signing, Ben Spies, while Valentino Rossi's debut race for the Ducati Team resulted in seventh place after dicing with Spies on several occasions.

Colin Edwards of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team was eighth, with Ducati's Nicky Hayden in ninth and Hiroshi Aoyama of the San Carlo Honda Gresini team in tenth place. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) managed to take 11th place on the last lap ahead of Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team). GP debutant Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) was the final rider to pass the chequered flag and earned himself three points, with just 13 riders finishing the first race of the season.

In the Moto2 category Australian rider Anthony West did not finish the race after crashing out in a forgettable night of racing. The Qatar Moto2 race was won by German rider Stefan Bradl, ahead of Italian Andrea Iannone, and Swiss rider Thomas Luthi.

Check out the MotoGP.com results page for all the details.

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