The new season of MotoGP brings with it a raft of changes. First, and most importantly, the bikes are now 800cc, and not 990cc monsters. This rule was brought in to slow the bikes down. Unfortunately for the organizers, this has not been the case. During the test season, the 800cc bikes showed that they are every bit as quick as the 990's, faster even, as all of the lap records were smashed using the 800cc bikes. The fuel load allowed in the bikes was reduced to 21ltrs, a five percent reduction from last year.
Other changes are to teams and sponsors. Valentino Rossi has signed up to Yamaha for another two years, and it seems has brought the Fiat group with him as sponsorship. He's joined by last years team mate, Colin Edwards to add stability to the team. Honda's kept the current world champion, Niki Hayden and his team mate from last year, Danni Pedrosa. Ducati however have brought in young Australian, Casey Stoner to partner Loris Capirossi.
I mention the Ducati change as it was Casey who won the first outing at Qatar.
The qualifying session showed that around the lap, the Yamaha with Rossi at the helm was the fastest bike, in fact half a second quicker than last years 990cc bikes. He was however closely followed by Casey for second, with the other Yamaha on third with Edwards.
Off the line, the Yamaha of Rossi showed it was quick as well, however Rossi was closely challenged by Stoner into the first corner. Unfortunately for Edwards, it looked like the bike bogged down on the launch. Edwards ended up in sixth into the first set of corners, and could not seem to make up the lost ground all race.
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