Well MotoGP 2007 kicked off five and a half weeks ago in Qatar, and it was a barnstormer. After the IRTA test in Jerez in Spain the pre season form showed both Yamaha's of Valentino Rossi & Colin Edwards to be strong runners, and Dani Pedrosa a strong title contender.
We got to Qatar, and the Ducatis' showed there strength, straight line speed. They were as much as 20kmh or 10mph faster than the Yamaha's down the one kilometre long straight in Losail Qatar. Althought qualifying showed that, The Doctor, Valentino Rossi was still there, he qualified on pole for the opening round of the 2007 Championship and the start of the new 800cc era. The race began with a ding dang battle between Valentino & Casey Stoner. Valentino showed his and the Yamaha's strength in the corners, gaining all his time on the infield section, but as they approached the start finish line Casey clawed it all back. The last two laps Casey passed and managed to stay ahead of Valentino, winning his first MotoGP race, and the first of the 800cc era.
Two weeks later, the circus headed back to Jerez in Spain for round two.
The Ducatis' strength couldn't be used as much in Spain due to the lack of long straights. So all through the weekend, it was Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi who topped the time sheets, and for one session Kenny Roberts Jnr. But qualifying belonged to Dani Pedrosa starting on pole just ahead of Valentino Rossi, but soon Valentino passed Dani and stayed there for the whole race. He dominated the race from start to finish, winning his first 800c MotoGP. Maybe its an insight of whats to come.
Next we head off to Shanghai in China for round three, lets just wait and see shall we, this year is one to watch, definitely.
Source: http://www.helium.com/items/284004-motogp-kicked-weeks-qatar
