Moto GP Season Opener

With it being Easter weekend the racing world is pretty dead but there is one major event happening in Qatar as the Moto GP opens its season with their only night race from Losail. Casey Stoner was fastest in first practice, as he looks to defend his championship. This marks the first race of the of 1,000 cc engines after using 800 cc engines since 2007. This also marks the first race of the new Claiming Rule Teams. These are smaller privateer teams running at a much lower budget compared to the giant factory operations of Ducati, Honda and Yamaha and the larger customer teams.

Two Spaniards, factory Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Stoner's teammate Dani Pedrosa, look to challenge him for the title. Three Americans plan to be on the grid for Sunday's race. Ben Spies, Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards all return from last season with Edwards being the only one with a CRT. Spies was victorious last year at Assen in the Dutch TT on his factory Yamaha and hopes to be up front, challenging with Lorenzo for more victories this season. 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden returns to Ducati for his fourth season with the Italian manufacture. Hayden only had one podium in 2011 but only retired from two races as he and his Ducati teammate Valentino Rossi both struggled with the bike all season. The first practice seems promising for Hayden as he was third in the session between Lorenzo and Spies. Rossi was down in 10th on the time sheet but it is only the first session in a long season.

The race weekend is just beginning. With two more practice sessions Friday, qualifying Saturday and a morning warm-up on Sunday before the race. Qualifying can been seen on SPEED2 at 12:55pm on Saturday and the race is on SPEED Sundy at 3:00pm.