Casey Stoner’s debut win in Qatar was his 24th MotoGP victory of his career and making him the first rider to win 800cc races with two different manufacturers, Ducati and Honda.
While we thought that he had toyed with Pedrosa in the first part of the race, showing that he’d finally put his head on his shoulders and learned that bolting isn’t always the best option, he actually had some problems with a full gas tank, that partially slowed (big word) him down at the beginning.
“After a great pre-season, we came into this race weekend and everything kept getting better and better for us.
This morning in warm up we had a few issues getting a good feeling with the bike carrying a full tank of fuel and this issue also affected us in the early part of the race, but we knew as the fuel level decreased and the tyres aged, that our bike would come back to us.
Dani (Pedrosa) came past and we 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, we 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.
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