Casey Stoner was the winner at the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix on Sunday, but it was Valentino Rossi whose achievement of third place took the Championship title
Stoner’s second successive win was impressive enough, as was his astounding 14.666s margin of victory, but it was the Italian’s result that secured his ninth world title – a seventh in the premier class – as he defended his 2008 crown, with Dani Pedrosa finishing second with his 78th career podium across all classes.
The race started on a wet track after a 35-minute delay due to rain, and there was drama from the off. A problem during the sighting lap with his machine for Jorge Lorenzo meant that failure to join the starting grid in time resulted in relegation from second to the back. It made little difference to the Spaniard however as he flew up to overtake Rossi, who dropped to tenth after a sluggish start from pole position. Lorenzo eventually finished in fourth position.
Randy de Puniet had a very early nasty high-side which fortunately resulted in no injury for the Frenchman, as Stoner established a four-second lead at the front over Pedrosa after just two laps.
Nicky Hayden was dogged in his attempt to hold off Lorenzo in fifth place, but the Fiat Yamaha rider managed to pass the Ducati Marlboro man before Rossi passed both to move into fourth spot after eight laps.
Shortly after, Stoner’s lead at the front had grown to a huge 15 seconds, but there was no such deficit between Pedrosa in third and his Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who diced for second spot. Disaster struck for the Italian however, as on lap 14 he succumbed to the wet conditions and slid off, allowing Rossi to move up to third and target Pedrosa.
The Spaniard was out of Rossi’s grasp for the remainder however, but third was one place higher than he required to take the title (had Lorenzo won the race), and a characteristically flamboyant celebration followed involving a chicken dressed in the Italian’s blue and yellow colours.
Elsewhere, Aleix Espargaró impressed with an eleventh-placed finish in his third MotoGP race of the campaign for Pramac, while Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pair Colin Edwards and James Toseland both struggled, finishing in 13th and 15th respectively.
After Lorenzo took fourth spot he duly handed hearty congratulations to Rossi, with Hayden equalling his second-best result of the season in fifth. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki), Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing), Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) completed the top ten.
World ChampionshipPos. Rider Nation Team Points
1 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 286 2 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 245 3 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 220 4 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 209 5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team 152 6 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 148 7 Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team 108 8 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 108 9 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 105 10 Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini 105 11 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 105 12 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 101 13 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team 93 14 James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 88 15 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing 64 16 Niccolo CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing 38 17 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP 19 18 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing 13 19 Sete GIBERNAU SPA Grupo Francisco Hernando 12 20 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN Scot Racing Team MotoGP 9
SHELL ADVANCE MALAYSIAN MOTORCYCLE GPMotoGP Race Classification
Pos. Rider Nation Team Total time
1 C. STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 47'24.834 2 D. PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team + 14.666 3 V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team + 19.385 4 J. LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team + 25.850 5 N. HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team + 38.705 6 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 41.061 7 T. ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini + 48.555 8 M. MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team + 55.557 9 L. CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1'00.303 10 M. KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing + 1'00.440 11 A. ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing + 1'01.655 12 A. DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 1'01.847 13 C. EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 1'10.778 14 G. TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP + 1'15.851 15 J. TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 1'50.672
Not classified A. DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team 7 Lap R. DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 20 Lap
