Suzuki's John Hopkins had been strong throughout all the practice sessions despite nursing some injuries from a pre season practice crash. Teammate Chris Vermeulen had struggled all weekend before making some headway on Saturday morning. However under the new tyre rules where riders must choose their qualifying rubber before the start of the weekend a wrong choice saw the affable Aussie languishing down in 13th place by the end of qualifying.

Kawasaki's Randy De Puniet has been strong in the practice sessions but slipped to eighth place in qualifying.

Top qualifying Honda rider was Toni Elias who in contrast to some of the others saved his best for qualifying and went from a lowly 14th in the morning practice session to fourth place in qualifying. Alongside him on the second row was diminutive Spaniard Dani Pedrosa who improved to fifth quickest in qualifying.

When the lights went out the jostling started in earnest. Rossi capitalised on his pole position to lead them through turn one with Stoner, Elias and Pedrosa close astern with Edwards also right in the mix on the back of that group. Not for long however as both Melandri and Hopkins soon forced their way past the Texan to shuffle him back to seventh place. The awesome top speed of the Ducati saw Stoner shoot to the lead on the main straight as they crossed the stripe to commence lap two. Rossi was soon all over the back of the Ducati again as soon as the corners arrived however with the new Yamaha 800 looking to be the finest handling machine on the grid.

Dani Pedrosa then squeezed past Rossi on the straight as they started lap three but Rossi took his position right back at turn one. The tussles playing into the hands of Stoner who was looking to pull an early escape act. Hopkins moved up to fifth after getting the better of Elias and started closing on the leading quartet.

Rossi rushed into the final turn considerably faster than Stoner next time around in an effort to get the slipstream of the Ducati but the Italian machine easily broke the tow and powered away down the main straight. Rossi a demon in the corners though and sneaked his nose in front early on the next lap but was in too hot and Stoner simply slipped straight back through to regain his lead. Rossi trying to pressure the young Aussie into making a mistake and surrendering the lead.

By lap five a clear group of five riders had established themselves at the head of the field with the running order- Stoner, Rossi, Pedrosa, Elias and Hopkins. The Suzuki man put in a new quickest lap of the race on lap four to close on that group.

Stoner running medium compound Bridgestones while Rossi's Yamaha shod with hard compound Michelins. Third placed Pedrosa running medium Michelins.  On lap five Rossi slipped past Stoner late on the lap and led the Ducati man on to the main straight by a healthy margin but again Stoner just caught and blew past the Yamaha. The top end pace of the Ducati absolutely amazing.

Rossi again sneaked ahead of Stoner in the tight sections and Pedrosa was quickly hounding the Ducati. Predictably however Stoner simply streaked away on the main straight as though the other riders had a plug lead pulled off. Stoner's Ducati teammate Loris Capirossi had been edging his way forward and with 16 laps to run had moved up to fifth after getting the better of Melandri and was starting to close on fourth placed Hopkins. But late on the next lap Capirossi tumbled his way out of the race while his teammate crossed the line to set a new fastest lap of the race.

Pedrosa really started to challenge Rossi for second place on lap eight while Randy De Puniet's promising start to the season came to a premature end after losing the front end of his Kawasaki in one of the tighter right handers. Carlos Checa went out in sympathy only seconds later with his LCR Honda also ending the race on its side in the gravel trap which promoted defending World Champion Nicky Hayden into eighth position ahead of Chris Vermeulen. With 13 laps to run that duo were more than ten seconds behind the leading quartet.

Pedrosa made some small mistakes as the race passed the halfway mark and Hopkins was quick to capitalise and pushed his Suzuki through to third position. The Spaniard was quick to regain his momentum though to move back up to third position. Their tussle had allowed Stoner and Rossi to escape their clutches somewhat. Stoner set a new fastest lap of the race on lap 12 but Rossi was still right with him while Pedrosa and Hopkins were now 1.5 seconds behind that leading duo. A couple of laps later that buffer had grown to more than three seconds as Stoner and Rossi set the scene for a thrilling showdown to the flag.

Lap 16 saw Stoner put down a new fastest lap of the race in effort to break Rossi but the Yamaha man was having none of it. After starting with promise Elias had drifted backwards through the field before tumbling out of the race with five laps to run.

Rossi hung onto Stoner and made his move in tight left hander with four laps to run. Ducati horsepower soon ruled the way once the main straight loomed and the red machine sucked the new Fiat livery off the panels of the Yamaha as it blew past once again. The final rung on the rostrum was still far from settled also as Pedrosa had Hopkins nipping at his heels constantly in his quest for a podium.

Stoner started the final lap with half a second on Rossi and extended that margin throughout the final lap to take a victory for Ducati with a blistering last lap with the rear tyre squiggling and squirming away powering him to victory by nearly three seconds. The effort he put into that final lap was clearly obvious and it resulted in a new race lap record and fastest lap of the race on the final circuit of the 5.38km circuit, a storming 1m56.528 for which Rossi had no answer. It also showed that when he wanted to Stoner could outpace the Yamaha not only under power but also in the corners with the young Aussie perhaps choosing to not show his hand until the last throw of the dice. Once thrown though those dice were clearly loaded in Stoner's favour.

Dani Pedrosa took a podium result for Honda while John Hopkins made it four different manufacturers in the top four positions.

A disappointing eighth place to defending Champion Hayden who was beaten to the line by Vermeulen. The Kentucky Kid was a despondent sight in pit lane as he pondered his chances of defending his crown against the pace of those that finished in front of him at the season opener.

Colin Edwards took sixth place 1.2 seconds behind Marco Melandri.

Jeremy McWilliams did not manage to start the race on the Ilmor while Andrew Pitt retired late in the race.

MotoGP next reconvenes at Jerez on March 25.

MotoGP Race Results

1. Stoner
2. Rossi 2.8
3. Pedrosa 8.5
4. Hopkins 9.0
5. Melandri 17.4
6. Edwards 18.6
7. Vermeulen 22.9
8. Hayden 23.0
9. Barros 25.9
10. Nakano 28.4
11. Hofmann 42.9
12. Jacque 42.9
13. Roberts 42.9
14. Elias 42.9
15. Guintoli 51.6
16. Tamada 57.8

MotoGP Championship Standings

1. Stoner 25
2. Rossi 20
3. Pedrosa 16
4. Hopkins 13
5. Melandri 11
6. Edwards 10
7. Vermeulen 9
8. Hayden 8
9. Barros 7
10. Nakano 6
11. Hofmann 5
12. Jacque 4
13. Roberts 3
14. Elias 2
15. Guintoli 1