Casey Stoner put a big stop to Valentino Rossi’s domination in the pre-season testing taking the top spot on the final day of testing under the lights at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The Aussie rider exchanged positions with Rossi during the entire test, but in the end with a best lap of 1.55.717 left the Italian rider in second by over five tenths of second.

Andrea Dovizioso made a big jump forward from yesterday and finished in third, he too a little more than five tenths of second from Stoner and just 0.019s from Rossi. Nicky Hayden finished in fourth, up four positions from yesterday.

Loris Capirossi who was feeling better tonight, finished his test in fifth and improving almost a full second from the 1st session while Jorge Lorenzo who is still nursing his injured hand took sixth.

Several falls characterized this evening’s test, Yamaha Tech3 duo Colin Edwards, Ben Spies and Ducati’s Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner all suffered falls at turn 2, while Marco Simoncelli crashed out at turn 6.

Continue reading: MotoGP Qatar Test - Casey Stoner takes Top Spot on Day 2

The night test in Qatar was lead by Valentino Rossi who continues to dominate in this year’s MotoGP pre-season testing. The Italian Yamaha rider led the entire test except when he stopped for dinner and a massage, and Casey Stoner and Ben Spies out lapped him. Finished his dinner break Rossi went out and did a best lap in 1.55.402 in the final minutes of the session in warm, but very damp conditions.

Casey Stoner was second, a little more than three tenths of second from Rossi, but stopped before the end of the test with problems on his GP10 according to Ducati team manager Vitto Guareschi who called in on Italian TV show Griglia di Partenza. Stoner’s best lap was done on a used tire that already had 34 laps on it.

Ben Spies was third with his satellite Yamaha. The American continues to impress everyone in the paddock and finished 0.553s from Rossi, but suffered a small crash in the final hour of the test, but fortunately did not injure himself.

Continue reading: MotoGP Qatar Test : Rossi on Top

Jorge Lorenzo has confirmed via his Twitter and Facebook pages that he’s been given the green light by his doctor to take part in this week’s final pre-season MotoGP test in Qatar.

The Spaniard has been doubtful that he would be able to test in Qatar after fracturing his first metacarpal and dislocating his thumb in a training incident last February.

Jorge Lorenzo:

“Today we are leaving for Qatar for the last Winter test. I think that it is important that we are there. The fracture happened less than five weeks ago, but we could not have missed this last test because it would have been negative for our preparation; we are not far from the first race of the season! The doctor has made a special carbon fibre protection and Dainese have modified my glove, in order to further protect the fracture, so we will see how we get on.”

Continue reading: MotoGP - Jorge Lorenzo confirms he'll be in Qatar

After missing the Sepang2 tests due to a fracture at the base of first metacarpal and a displaced thumb during a motocross training accident on February 12th, Jorge Lorenzo is still in doubt for the final pre-season MotoGP test that is scheduled for March 18-19 in Qatar.

While Lorenzo has constantly kept his numerous fans up-to-date on how his recovery is going and that he’s undergoing extensive physiotherapy, and will make his decision about Qatar only on Monday, as he wrote on his Twitter page yesterday: Hello people! Another day of intensive physiotherapy. Probably on monday i’ll decide if i can go to Qatar test.

The first race of the 2010 MotoGP season takes place at Losail, Qatar on April 11th.

Continue reading: Jorge Lorenzo to decide on Monday for Qatar Test