Rossi back in business

World champion Valentino Rossi roared back from his worst start to a MotoGP season with victory in Qatar yesterday.

It was the 27-year-old Italian's 54th win in the top category, equalling the tally of Australian Mick Doohan with only compatriot Giacomo Agostini (68) ahead of him on the all-time victory list.

Italian Loris Capirossi, the winner of the opening race in Spain, finished third for Ducati to keep the lead in the championship with 41 points after two rounds to American Nicky Hayden's 36.

Rossi, arriving in Qatar with only two points after being knocked off his Yamaha at the first corner in Spain, took the lead on lap 10 and fought a lively battle with Honda's Hayden in the closing stages.

The American seized the lead four laps from the end on a gusty afternoon at the Losail desert circuit but his advantage was short-lived.

Rossi, winner in Qatar last year, powered back on the next lap to beat Hayden by nearly a second.

"The numbers are always important and to have won as many as Mick Doohan is a great pleasure," said Rossi, who moved up to fourth in the championship with 27 points.

Honda's 20-year-old Australian rookie Casey Stoner failed in his bid to become the youngest race winner in the top category. He finished fifth with Spaniard Dani Pedrosa sixth.

Spain's Jorge Lorenzo scored his second successive victory for Aprilia in the 250cc class after a dramatic last-lap duel with Italian Andrea Dovizioso.

Spain's Alvaro Bautista, riding an Aprilia, won the 125cc race for his second victory in a row.

O Sebastien Loeb was heading for a second consecutive win in the Corsica rally after ending yesterday's second leg 39.7 seconds ahead of Ford's Marcus Gronholm. The Citroen driver, who won every stage on the Mediterranean island last year, won two of the day's four stages to close in on victory on asphalt.