Sepang is a long circuit, with varying types or corner, a few overtaking places and a couple of very long straights. One of several former winners at the circuit who would be competing was Dani Pedrosa, who put his Repsol Honda on pole position this year. The grid was not entirely as normal, because qualifying had been hit by wet weather. A late dry window allowed for some slick tyre running, but as a result some riders did not manage the fast lap they might have expected.

Dani had been on pole in France with the Michelin tyres, but this was his first since switching over to the Bridgestone camp. And Malaysia brought the announcement that the one-make supplier agreed on for the 2009 season would be Bridgestone, which six of the current riders would have to adapt to. The Japanese make were on top here, with Valentino Rossi lining up next to Pedrosa on the same rubber, but with Michelin men in the next four slots.

Second man Rossi was mourning the recent death of his pet dog Guido, but his riding was clearly unaffected. There was another Fiat Yamaha on the front row, and another Spaniard, with third man Jorge Lorenzo fitting the bill in both cases. Fourth went to Nicky Hayden for Repsol, so that the two works Honda and Yamaha teams monopolised the leading positions, each with different makes of tyre for their two riders.

The Yamaha-Honda trend continued, with Colin Edwards fifth for Tech 3 and then Andrea Dovizioso for the JiR Scot team. Edwards had gone back to his pre-Assen settings for the M1, as those used to good effect in that ninth round had been less effective since. Stoner’s Marlboro Ducati was in P7, so the weather meant the marque’s worst qualifying result since the third round this year. Rizla Suzuki were next, with the experienced former Ducati man Loris Capirossi, who’d won here three years earlier.

In ninth was LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet, his worst start for nine rounds. John Hopkins was next and the leading Kawasaki rider, then came Rizla’s Chris Vermeulen, Tech 3’s James Toseland and Kawasaki’s Anthony West; and Marco Melandri was a little better off than usual, 14th for Marlboro Ducati. Shin’ya Nakano, another former Sepang winner, had shown good form all weekend for Gresini Honda, but the conditions put him back to P15.

Row six was led by Alice Ducati rider Sylvain Guintoli, from Alex de Angelis (Gresini). Appearing for his 170th GP entry, four years after his last full season, was Suzuki test rider Nobuatsu Aoki. The 37-year-old with seven previous GP podium results, all on Honda machinery, was on a GSV-R fitted with silencers. He qualified in P18, ahead of Alice rider Toní Elías.

Conditions were hot and dry for the race, and Pedrosa held onto his lead at the start, from Rossi. Dovizioso found an inside line at the long right-handed turn one, to take second from his countryman. Hayden and Stoner followed, with Nakano up nine to sixth, then Lorenzo, Capirossi and Edwards. Rossi was not third for the entire lap, as he used the slipstream from Dovizioso along the Penang Straight, leading into the final left hairpin turn fifteen. He went to the inside for the turn in, running a bit wide but still making it back into second.

So Pedrosa led Rossi, Dovizioso, Hayden, Stoner, Nakano, Lorenzo, Capirossi, Edwards, Vermeulen, Hopkins, de Puniet, Elías, West, Aoki, Toseland, de Angelis, Melandri and Guintoli. Elías had made up seven places, but with the help of a jump start, for which he would be penalised. Also towards the rear of the field there was an early battle between de Puniet, West and Toseland, which ended for James when he lost the front end and crashed at the right-handed turn seven.

The early pace from Pedrosa and Rossi was enough to take them clear of Dovizioso and the rest. Valentino was threatening the leader, but Dani’s Honda certainly seemed to have better acceleration, such as out of turn fourteen and onto the Penang Straight. Before long they had a couple of seconds in hand over the next group, and this margin would continue to grow. The race began to settle so that the next seven riders formed a group, dropping Vermeulen and the others.

Turn nine is a tight left-hander after a medium-length straight, which crests uphill slightly as it becomes a long right-hand bend, Berjaya Tioman Corner. The left-hander saw Rossi make his move on Pedrosa, the Yamaha rider putting his left foot down under braking on the inside. Valentino was on hard compound tyres and, once through into the lead, he was soon easing clear of Dani with his medium front. The margin between the two continued to grow as the race moved on towards the end.

With six laps still to run, white flags were shown as a minimal amount of rain was now falling. The riders had the option to change bikes if conditions got difficult, but as it turned out the moisture was not enough to make any difference. Three laps later Rossi had a lead of four seconds, and he went on to make it nine wins for the season, and six wins from seven races. His second place in Australia owed something to a qualifying incident and injury which meant he started further down the grid. Pedrosa took a secure second, his best result on the Bridgestone tyres.

Much of the action in Sepang was in the group contesting third place, which ended up as a mostly Honda affair. Dovizioso had led works man Hayden, gaining some ground when Nicky went wide in turn one. The Repsol rider was pursued by Stoner’s Ducati and Nakano on another Honda, but he later got on the attack again and was threatening Andrea. Earlier, Edwards had passed Capirossi in the left of turn two, with Colin then behind Yamaha colleague Lorenzo, who was closing on Nakano.

Lorenzo became a part of the group with Hayden, Stoner and Nakano, and he overtook the Japanese rider - only to lose the front end at turn one and go down. He restarted, but was only able to make a slow lap back to the pits. As Nicky chased Andrea, Casey found he had to watch out for Shin’ya, and the 31-year-old made it past, so that Honda held positions two to five. Stoner was unable to stay in touch, and Nakano also started to lose ground to Dovizioso and Hayden.

The late action was for third, and Hayden used the slipstream to pass Dovizioso on the inside for turn one. However, he left a gap for the younger man to go right to the apex for the same bend and edge ahead again. There is a long and rapid right-hand bend at turn three, and here Nicky was able to get in front again on the inside, which gave him third as they headed for the braking zone for the right at Langkawai Curve. Andrea was back in front at that corner though, settling the issue through the left curve at turn five.

Hayden trailed Dovizioso in the last few laps, but wasn’t close enough at any of the passing places on the final lap, which put the class rookie on the podium for the first time since racing in last year’s Malaysian race in the 250cc class. The fourth Honda home was that of fifth man Nakano, not quite in touch with those ahead or behind, and so Stoner was sixth. Ducati have had at least one man higher than that in every race since round five this season.

Capirossi was seventh, then came Edwards. Both Hopkins and Vermeulen had lost out to de Puniet during the race, but Chris retook Randy late on, on the inside at the long right turn thirteen. Hopkins was in P11 at the finish, some way in front of team-mate West, and then came Guintoli, who had been last but now headed de Angelis, Elías, Melandri and Aoki. Yamaha’s two crashed bikes meant that only Lorenzo and Toseland did not finish.

Valentino Rossi had again shown why he had won the 2008 title, with only Dani Pedrosa really challenging him on the day, but not to the finish. Rossi has obviously been a regular visitor to the GP podiums, with 15 in the 125cc class, 21 in 250s, 23 in 500s and 68 with the 990cc machinery. His 23rd on an 800cc Yamaha meant a grand total of 150 was reached in Malaysia. And compatriot Andrea Dovizioso joined him there for the first time after another good ride, beating a couple of works Hondas. The JiR part of his JiR Scot team had been in the top three only once before, at Motegi in 2005 with rider Makoto Tamada.

The respective results of Pedrosa and Stoner closed the points gap between the two 23-year-olds, and in fact they put Honda only a point behind Ducati in the manufacturer standings. However, sixth for the Australian was enough to secure runner-up status in this year’s competition for the riders, as Dani cannot now overhaul Casey in the final race, even if it does take place in Spain and at a circuit where he was the winner last time. What will Valencia bring this time?

Standings after seventeen races: Rossi 357; Stoner 255; Pedrosa 229; Lorenzo 182; Dovizioso 161; Hayden 144; Edwards 134; Vermeulen 125; Nakano 117; Capirossi 111; Toseland 100; Elías 92.
Yamaha 386; Ducati 296; Honda 295; Suzuki 174; Kawasaki 86.

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