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MotoGP Qatar: Rossi wins desert thriller

Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi emerged victorious in today’s Qatar MotoGP race after a 22-lap thriller which saw The Doctor fight it out with Andrea Doviziso’s Ducati GP15 for the win.

Dovizioso, on the brand new Desmosedici, pushed The Doctor all the way to the line as the pair just broke the chasing Andrea Iannone and Jorge Lorenzo with three laps to go and it confirmed that Ducati are again a force to be reckoned with in MotoGP racing.

But it was disaster for the Repsol Honda men. Marc Marquez ran off the track in the first corner and had to fight his way back from stone last to fifth place while Dani Pedrosa had no answer to the pace of the Yamahas and Ducatis, and was passed by his team-mate late on.

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With the front four on identical medium rears and only Rossi opting for the hard front, it was a level playing field as they tipped into turn one on lap one.

Dovizioso bagged the holeshot with Lorenzo, Yonny Hernandez, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro right behind them. Marquez went straight on while Rossi went backwards into 11th place and gave himself a pile of work to do as Pedrosa found himself passed by Danilo Petrucci.

It took Lorenzo two laps to work his way past Dovizoso while Rossi made hard work of his way forward, going into eighth while Marquez clawed his way to 17th. With 19 left, Pedrosa passed Smith for fifth place but The Doctor found his way past the pair of them as his hard front came up to temperature and he looked for a way past Hernandez.

That came on the next lap as Marquez scythed his way through, passing Cal Crutchlow for eighth and immediately pulled a gap on the British rider. Rossi’s next lap, a 1’55.267, was the fastest of the race as he began to reel in the front three while Marquez tried a move on Hernandez but was immediately passed back. He made it stick a corner later.

With 14 to go, Rossi was on the back of Iannone while Dovi pulled a gap of half a second to Lorenzo but that didn’t last as the former world champion passed the Italian into the last corner.

The Ducati motor proved its speed time and again in the race, with Dovi able to pass at will down the straight but he invariably ran wide into turn one, allowing Lorenzo back past. The pair see-sawed back and forth as Rossi finally made a move stick on Iannone and then set about his compatriot and his Movistar Yamaha team-mate.

On lap 18, Rossi finally made his way past Lorenzo and that was it for the Spaniard, who seemed to deflate as Rossi pulled a gap and got into Dovi’s rear wheel. Iannone also went past and bagged the final podium spot as Lorenzo finshed 2.7s in arrears.

Marquez upped his pace from lap 14 but couldn’t close a four-second gap and had to settle for fifth place. Pedrosa ended in sixth with Crutchlow winning the battle of Britain in seventh, one ahead of Smith. Pol Espargaro was ninth and Hernandez hung on for tenth.

Scott Redding will be disappointed with his 13th place finish behind Petrucci while Eugene Laverty ended his debut ride in 18th place 46.570s behind the leader.

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