Casey Stoner finished in front of the first free practice of the MotoGP season in 2009 this Friday evening  in Qatar.
The Australian’s Ducati completed the circuit in 1min57s053, surpassing the current champion, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, by almost four tenths of a second.
The Japanese maker had three motorcycles in the top 4 with the American Colin [...]

Dorna Team Boss Carmelo Ezpeleta recognized that not all the MotoGP teams agree with the new rules for rookies. the new rule which goes into effect in 2010 precludes rookies from debuting on factory teams.
Despite the controversy Ezpeleta confirmed that the rule will go into effect next year.  Ezpeleta explains:
it was not a unanimous [...]