qatar night race

A twelfth placed finish wasn't what John Hopkins had been hoping for on his Kawasaki debut, but given that he rode through 'excruciating' pain from his recent groin injury - and battled severe front tyre problems - it was a mighty effort.

After struggling to match even the leading satellite Honda riders during the final pre-season test at Qatar, both Pedrosa and Hayden were given last year's model to evaluate during practice for the inaugural night race.

Monday am - Toseland Bounces into the New Job "I could have picked another manufacturer to scrape off!" James Toseland was hanging out in the paddock tonight, just walking around in a happy haze and chatting to whoever wanted to go over with him his amazing debut ride in MotoGP.

Starting from ninth on the grid, Dovi stormed forward during the inaugural night race, reaching fifth by lap 4 of 22. The JiR Team Scot rider maintained that position right until the very last lap, when he dived inside Rossi at the hairpin.

Rather than gaining ground with its all-new '08 racer during the off-season, Honda's factory team has found itself in the unexpected situation of working its way back towards the proven 2007 design.