by Tracy Hagen

World Champion Jorge Lorenzo converted his pole position to a runaway victory at Qatar on Sunday, leading the way to a 1-2 finish for Team Yamaha. Valentino Rossi, fresh from his prodigal son misadventures at Ducati, proved that he is on the path to redemption by charging through the field to finish second on the other factory Yamaha.

Rossi’s return to the podium required him to lock horns with Honda’s 20 year-old Marc Marquez. Touted as the rider destined to be the next dominant force in MotoGP, Marquez lost out to Rossi by a third of a second at the finish line. Not bad for the former 125cc and Moto2 champion in his first MotoGP race.

Before taking on the King of MotoGP Marquez battled teammate Dani Pedrosa and Monster Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow over much of the race. Over the middle third of the race Rossi made up the four-second gap to this group. At the start of lap 18 Crutchlow ran wide at Turn 1, effectively ending any hope for a podium that night.

Finishing sixth was Honda satellite rider Alvaro Bautista. The Spaniard edged out the factory Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, the pair racing like Siamese twins from start to finish.

The satellite Ducatis were further behind with rookie Andrea Iannone racing all alone and Ben Spies struggling to stay in front of the Aprilia CRT superbikes of Aleix Espargaro and Randy De Puniet.

Two Moto GP riders crashed out before mid-race: Crutchlow’s teammate, Bradley Smith, lost the front at Turn 7 on lap five, and the second satellite Honda of Stefan Bradl did exactly the same two laps later.

Going into the race there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Lorenzo could still win races. The question of when Rossi, Marquez, or Crutchlow will win will need to wait a bit further for an answer.

Next race: Austin, April 21