ENTRY 11

MALAYSIAN GP:ROSSI TAKE NINTH WIN

















Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi in action at the Malaysian
MotoGP enroute to winning the race at the
Sepang Circuit yesterday. - Pic by HASAN ISMAIL

IF Valentino Rossi's stock was thought to have reached its ceiling, the MotoGP world champion yesterday burst through that by joining the ranks of Australian legend Mick Doohan with an emphatic ninth win of the season in the Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit.

Starting second on the grid, the 29-year old Fiat-Yamaha rider trailed Repsol Honda's pole sitter Dani Pedrosa for 11 laps, before poking the decisive puncture in the Spaniard's defence, taking the lead and never looking back, equalling five-time world champion Doohan's record five premier class wins on Malaysian soil.

From the start, it was always going to be a spectacle of Italian eight-time world champion Rossi against Pedrosa, who seemed to be on fire, especially after the record pole position lap clocked at the death in Saturday's qualifying session.

It turned out exactly so, while other sensations came in the form of the JiR Team Scot Honda, with 22-year old Andrea Dovizioso on board, holding off the rest of the field from start to finish, to register the Italian's first ever podium in MotoGP.

The day's moment, however, remained Rossi's sensational move in outbraking Pedrosa into Turn 12 on Lap 11, that had the bulk of the 38,650 crowd in pandemonium.
"I had a good start and I wanted to attack Dani earlier. But I thought I would just wait a bit. I knew how good our set-up was, and I was confident, but the last five laps in front and alone, was really difficult," said Rossi, who has also won the premier class of the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

"We knew it was going to be difficult, but in the pre-season tests in February here, we did a lot of simulations and I promised our tyre man then, that we will win the GP."



For Pedrosa, it was a battle lost not only to a superior rider, but it was also obvious that the Fiat-Yamaha team had solved the right puzzles on their M1 to their advantage in Sepang.

"I'm quite satisfied with the result, as we had improved all weekend. In the first free practice I was only 17th fastest and we moved up bit by bit, even taking the pole yesterday (Saturday).

"At the end, Valentino was just too fast," said Pedrosa, who will be joined by third-placed man Dovizioso in the Repsol Honda team next season.