Ducati News Today

A rain and thunderstorm that had already interfered with the 125 and 250 races caused the first race of the 2009 MotoGP season to be delayed. The race will now be run on Monday evening at 9:00pm local in time in the Qatar desert.

The bikes were only moments away from their sighting lap when the rain began to full and it became heavier as the thunderstorm took full effect. Since the race in Losail is run at night with already reduced visibility, the glare caused from water makes riding in heavy rain too dangerous.
Earlier the 125cc race was red flagged after just 4 laps and a result called whilst the 250cc race was shortened to 13 laps in order to not impact the 11:00pm scheduled start time of the MotoGP race.
The good news is that we don’t have to wait until Motegi in Japan to see our heroes race, the Losail race will be run on Monday evening at 9:00pm Qatar time.
For injured Nicky Hayden, that will at least give him 24 more hours of recovery time before the 2009 series commences.  For US readers, Speed channel will broadcast the race on Tuesday, April 14th at 2pm ESDT.

Source: MotoGP.com

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