Losail, in Qatar, is in the Middle East. Just in case you hadn't realised. In fact, it's in the desert. It's a beautiful circuit, with fantastic facilities and a lovely flowing layout, but it does have one small drawback. Even at this time of year, during the day it is ferociously hot, and that tends to interfere both with the efficient working of highly stressed MotoGP engines and with the equally highly stressed MotoGP riders. Last year there were a few grumbles, and DORNA decided that Something Must Be Done. Now the Qatari people are nothing if not accommodating, and a solution was quickly devised. The track suddenly sprouted the most comprehensive, sophisticated, reliable and effective floodlighting system imaginable. And the first race of the season was arranged to be run at night. Any doubts about the wisdom of this were soon dispelled as the floodlighting proved really to be very good indeed, and the cool night air made for happier engines. But more on that later.

Practice turned up a few surprises. One of them wasn't the reappearance of 2007 champion Casey Stoner at the top of the timesheets, the 2008 Ducati seeming just as capable as before and sporting a very natty new paint scheme. No, the surprises came from the rookies. Factory Yamaha new boy Jorge Lorenzo consistently outpaced his team-mate, the great Valentino Rossi, while Yamaha Tech-3's rookie, SBK champion James Toseland similarly showed a clean pair of heels to Colin Edwards. Another rookie, Andrea Dovisioso, also showed that he had a good turn of speed when given the right tools, while the veterans Pedrosa and Hayden messed around with different factory Hondas and wasted some practice time. Certainly there were a few issues, especially as the late night chill sometimes bought humidity with it that either fogged visors or rendered the track slightly unpredictably slippery.

Qualifying was really quite astonishing as Rookie James Toseland destroyed the opposition to put his satellite Yamaha (with the old valve-spring engine and producing much less top end power than the others) firmly on pole, losing out in the dying moments of the session to fellow rookie Lorenzo on the full factory bike. Colin Edwards also found some of his old form, lapping smoothly and very, very fast to take third and make the first all Yamaha front row in the history of MotoGP, if not ever. Against this onslaught, defending champion Casey Stoner could only manage to take fourth, the Ducati seeming not to be as good on Bridgestone qualifiers as on race tyres. Next to Stoner, Randy de Puniet had the first Honda on the grid, just ahead of Nicky Hayden while Valentino Rossi languished on the third row, in seventh place ahead of Pedrosa and Dovizioso. The Suzuki pairing of Vermeulen and Capirossi were having some problems finding a good setup, and though they remained upbeat and positive their qualifying positions of eleventh and thirteenth respectively gave them a mountain to climb.

Race, um, night was clear, dry and dark. Obviously. It also wasn't very warm, with a starting track temperature of just twenty centigrade, dropping to seventeen by the end of the race. A blessedly uneventful warmup saw the eighteen riders line up neatly ready to go, and when the lights went out the 2008 MotoGP season was officially properly underway. And underway with a bit of a surprise, as Dani pedrosa got the holeshot from right back on the third row, taking a clear first place into turn one from Colin Edwards and James Toseland. Jorge Lorenzo, despite his outstanding pole position, dropped to fourth by the second turn and came under immense pressure from Valentino Rossi, who had made a good start. Stoner, meantime, didn't do so well, dropping to seventh in the first corner melee, while Dovizioso made up a couple of places to sit behind the Ducati by the end of the first lap.

Some extremely physical riding saw places swapping between Toseland, Lorenzo and Rossi, with the wily champion eventually getitng to the front in a textbook pass on lap five after getting into second on lap two. But though Rossi was in front of Pedrosa, he didn't seem to be able to gap him as there seemed to be some issue with the front end grip of his Bridgestone shod Yamaha. Further back, Chris Vermeulen's front Bridgestone fell apart and he had to pit to change it. Though the irrepressible young Australian came back out, he was a lap down and just missed out on getting points despite maintaining a good race pace. Dovizioso and Stoner were both on the move, too, with Stoner establishing himself in fourth on lap seven. Lorenzo had got himself back together as well, passing Toseland on the third lap and following Rossi past Pedrosa a couple of laps later.

Lap seven saw things get interesting. Or, alternatively, it saw any hope of the season being interesting disappear. It rather depends on your perspective. Casey Stoner simply blasted past the three bikes in front of him in a depressingly familiar style, and proceeded to rack up a string of fastest laps and new lap records. In his wake he left an almighty scrap for second between the two factory Yamahas and Pedrosa's Honda. This battle was resolved in fairly short order as Jorge Lorenzo made the break and set off in vain pursuit of the rapidly vanishing Ducati. The long awaited Pedrosa/Rossi battle was a bit half hearted as Rossi spent the time riding as defensively as possible while still maintaining a good speed. There were certain parts of the track where he was clearly quicker than the Honda, but inevitably Pedrosa got the drive onto the straight and made use of his superior speed to pass the Yamaha. This left a three way battle for fourth between Rossi, Dovizioso and Toseland, with Edwards just off the back. Less than a second split the three for the rest of the race, with Toseland fast through the corners but outgunned on the straights and unable to make it count as a result. Dovizioso's customer Honda was certainly fast and he was able to maintain pressure on Rossi until the end. On the penultimate lap he took fourth, only to have Rossi take it back in emphatic style just a couple of seconds later. But on the last lap the youngster did it again and this time was able to make it stick as Rossi ran wide in his counterattack. Toseland made a stab for the gap but Rossi closed it before the Englishman could press the advantage, and in the run to the line secured his points. Stoner, of course, had already finished comfortably, cruising round the last lap to finish five seconds ahead of Lorenzo, himself five seconds in front of Pedrosa.

Further back, a seperate race was decided in favour of Suzuki's Loris Capirossi, who prevailed in a race long battle with Randy de Puniet and Nicky Hayden. Rookie Alex de Angelis was the only faller, dropping the Honda with five laps to go but walking away unhurt.

So this has been an interesting race in many ways. Certainly the floodlighting was a brave attempt at solving a problem and looks to have been successful. And for sure there was some very good racing at the front in the early stages of the race as well as some ferocious scrapping for the runner up positions. Stoner rode faultlessly and the Ducati team planning was perfect as the Australian ran out of fuel on the cool down lap, showing that he wasn't carrying any unnecessary weight. I just worry that another season of total dominance from a rider who's winning style is dangerously close to mechanical efficiency may not be the spectacle that MotoGP ought to be...

SB

Qatar MotoGP Results

1. Casey Stoner (Ducati)
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)
3. Daniel Pedrosa (Honda)
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)
5. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)
6. James Toseland (Yamaha)
7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha)
8. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki)
9. Randy de Puniet (Honda)
10. Nicky Hayden (Honda)

MotoGP standings (after one round)

1. Casey Stoner 25
2. Jorge Lorenzo 20
3. Daniel Pedrosa 16
4. Andrea Dovizioso 13
5. Valentino Rossi 11
6. James Toseland 10
7. Colin Edwards 9
8. Loris Capirossi 8
9. Randy de Puniet 7
10. Nicky Hayden 6