Photographs courtesy of Dorna - click to enlarge

All Valentino Rossi needs to do is just relax and coast to whatever result happens. He's won his fifth MotoGP title in emphatic style, breaking all opposition along the way, so Qatar should just be a walk in the park, right?

Um, no.

Rossi threw the gauntlet down in qualifying, setting a crippling pace that was only beaten at the last minute by Gibernau, riding right at the limit, and Capirossi who continues to crest his wave and posted his third pole position in as many races. Colin Edwards, though, rode brilliantly in the desert heat, putting his Yamaha at the front of the second row in a mirror image of the front, ahead of Melandri and Checa. Shinya Nakano headed up the third row ahead of Nicky hayden and surprise performer of the weekend Tony Elias on another Yamaha with Makoto Tamada rounding out the top ten. Max Biaggi had a dreadful qualifying, struggling for grip and setup in the heat and managing no better than thirteenth, behind the Suzukis of Roberts and Hopkins whose fine qualifying form appeared to have deserted them. Shane Byrne did OK to put the Camel Honda in seventeenth in just his second outing on it.

Now Qatar has thrown up a few surprises for us before. In Superbikes at the beginning of the season it rained, for example, and last year the new track surface caught a few people out. The problem with the Losail circuit is lack of use. It's a beautifully designed and built track and is in great condition but because it only gets used a few times the surface hasn't really broken in yet and so there's a distinctly grippy line and a distinctly less grippy line which makes overtaking a bit of a challenge. It's much like riding on a circuit that's drying after rain, though at least tyre choice is easier.

But race day threw in an extra surprise. Wind. About 20mph of it, coming down the main straight. Well, at least it made braking easier at the end, though it does rather affect cornering as well. The wind can get under the bike and lift it up or push it wide on a corner as well as helping it fall over. It all adds to the excitement...

Lights out and Loris Capirossi made full use of the Ducati traction control system and his own diminutive size to blast straight into the lead from Gibernau and Rossi with hayden, Melandri and Edwards close behind. Unfortunately the Ducati winning streak came emphatically to an end as Bridgestone proved to be lacking when it comes to tyres working well in extremes of heat. Both Ducatis, Nakano's Kawasaki and both Suzukis suffered massively with poor rear end grip and fell down the table accordingly while Tamada went one step further and launched his Honda into the gravel trap, happily without injury.

But I digress.

Gibernau now took the lead from a snarling pack lead by Rossi with Hayden and Melandri snapping at his heels. hayden even passed Rossi briefly before being relegated to fourth as the champion and Melandri both hustled past. Melandri and Rossi, of course, continued to ruck as they do in every round, swapping the lead on occasions and tripping each other up while still not falling back from Gibernau who was simply reeling off inch perfect lap after inch perfect lap. The Spaniard obviously likes Losail, this being the last circuit he actually won a race at twelve long months ago. And it looked very much as though he would make it two out of two as the pair behind him kept getting in each other's way. Then it happened. Melandri got past Rossi and went for the lead. He's still in for a shout at second in the championship, after all. So Melandri and Gibernau fought for about half a lap before Gibernau had one of his by now customary brain farts and rode off the track, relegating himself from a just about guaranteed win to a distant fifth. Melandri, meantime, perhaps horrified at what his assault on his team-mate had done, also lost the plot a little and attempted to repass a clearly on the limit Rossi approaching one of the many complexes on the circuit. Now if Valentino Rossi looks as though he's on the limit and you're going faster than him it's fair to bet that your are about to be some way beyond the limit. As was the case this time, Melandri failing to negotiate the corner but at least avoiding the gravel and managing to hold on to second place. Nicky Hayden continued his recent run of solid rides to take third while Colin Edwards rode to a distant but respectable fourth.

Max Biaggi, erstwhile number two in the championship, retired with a technical problem that saw the Honda lurching from no throttle to full throttle, apparently without rider input. Interesting. John Hopkins' Suzuki ate its rear tyre but he came in, changed it and went back out, presumably simply to gather more data as a points finish was unlikely at best. Fair enough - that's being a good team rider. Shakey Byrne had a good ride, getting himself up to thirteenth, ahead of Ducati mounted Ruben Xaus, on his last ride on the Camel Honda. Up at the other end of the field Gibernau dragged himself in well behind Edwards in fifth while Carlos Checa held off the similarly tyre-challenged Shinya Nakano to hold sixth. Tony Elias carried on his ride from nowhere to take a magnificent eighth while Loris Capirossi slip-slided his way into the last place in the top ten behind Alex Barros.

The next round, at Philip Island, will see Chris Vermeulen riding the Camel Honda on his local circuit while Troy Bayliss recovers from surgery on his badly broken arm. It's coming up to the time where people stat to negotiate their rides for next year, and there are certainly going to be plenty of people coming under very close scrutiny indeed. Colin Edwards is in with a fair shout at the runner up spot in the championship, as is Melandri with Capirossi in there as an outsider as well. It would, after all this time, be a refreshing change not to see a Honda rider in the top three at all. And quite possible, too...

Results

1 V Rossi, Yamaha
2 M Melandri, Honda
3 N Hayden, Honda
4 C Edwards, Yamaha
5 S Gibernau, Honda
6 C Checa, Ducati
7 S Nakano, Kawasaki
8 T Elias, Yamaha
9 A Barros, Honda
10 L Capirossi, Ducati


Championship Standing after 14 rounds

306 V Rossi (World Champion 2005)
159 M Biaggi
157 M Melandri
152 C Edwards
150 N Hayden
148 L Capirossi
129 A Barros
126 S Gibernau
98 C Checa
78 S Nakano

SB