The fast Sepang circuit, with a few heavy-braking slow and tight corners, has been hosting races for a decade. Rossi had won there five times, but in fact the first six riders on the grid had taken victories at this circuit, together with the man who qualified last. Lorenzo had only won there once, but again the Yamaha men were fastest in qualifying, as Jorge lined up second to Valentino. The championship leader had set the fastest ever motorcycle lap at this venue.

This season’s other main contenders were next, with Dani Pedrosa third for Repsol Honda, and Stoner fourth for Marlboro Ducati. The other former winners at the front of the grid were Loris Capirossi, fifth for Rizla Suzuki; and Toní Elías, sixth for San Carlo Gresini Honda. Nicky Hayden was seventh on the second works Ducati Desmosedici.

Eighth went to Randy de Puniet, for LCR Honda, with ninth a bit of a disappointing result for Colin Edwards on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha. Then it was Alex de Angelis (Gresini), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol) and Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati). In 13th was Aleix Espargaró, who was standing in for the injured Niccolò Canepa, also for Pramac. In his third outing, this was his best qualifying to date. The second Suzuki was next, ridden by Chris Vermeulen, then it was Marco Melandri (Hayate Kawasaki).

In a lowly 16th was James Toseland on the second Tech 3 Yamaha. He’d been given an official apology after being penalised in Australia, in the ultimate knowledge that he hadn’t jumped the start after all. It didn’t help him much. In P17 was double 125cc Sepang winner Gábor Talmácsi, with the Scot Racing Honda.

Hot conditions continued into the race day, but only a few minutes before the off was due the circuit was hit by very heavy rain. With rivers soon crossing the tarmac in some places, the start had to be delayed. After a few minutes the rain eased off, and a new start time was set at 40 minutes later than originally scheduled. This was soon revised to 35 minutes as the sky brightened and the rain was now only light. The track was still wet of course, and obviously it would be an official wet race.

When the pitlane was opened some riders opted to pass through it again for a second out lap as they assessed the track conditions. But meanwhile the bike set up for the wet for Lorenzo to race would not start, and he had to swap bikes. He returned after his out lap, and with the pits now closed he would not be able to start in his front row slot. After the warm up lap he was able to line up in P18 for a race reduced from 22 to 21 laps.

Pedrosa made a good start, but it was Rossi who went into the lead. However, in the long right-hand loop of turn one Valentino couldn’t get the grip to turn tight and he ran wide. Pedrosa, Capirossi, Elías, Stoner, Hayden, Dovizioso and de Puniet all got past the pole man, who now had Melandri, Lorenzo, Kallio, Vermeulen, de Angelis, Talmácsi, Edwards, Espargaró and Toseland behind him.

The pre-race developments had not helped Lorenzo’s championship hopes, as he needed to win with Rossi no better than fifth. His prospects improved considerably on lap one. After a good start he soon passed Melandri to find himself ninth and right behind his team-mate. The turn eight right-handed KLIA Curve saw Jorge pass on the inside of Valentino. With Marco then on the inside of his compatriot for the heavy-braking acute left turn nine, where the gradient goes up as the track bends right, Rossi was already back to tenth.

Whilst all this was happening in the championship race, the race to victory had seen Stoner make his way past Elías, Capirossi and Pedrosa to lead after one lap. Dovizioso had also found his way usefully through the puddles to pass Hayden and Elías. When Capirossi ran wide, Andrea and Toní both went through, with de Puniet to follow suit after also dealing with Hayden. Turn one for lap two saw Rossi go past Melandri by braking on the inside, but then he went wide and they swapped back.

The early shuffle therefore put Stoner into a handy lead, from Pedrosa, Dovizioso, Elías and de Puniet. However, the French rider was about to exit in a highside crash, so that Capirossi was back up to fifth, from Hayden, Lorenzo, Melandri, Rossi, Kallio, de Angelis, Vermeulen and Talmácsi. Marco and Valentino swapped around again, with the Kawasaki rider then swapping with Jorge in an exchange at turn 14, Sunway Lagoon Corner, the right-hander onto the final long Penang Straight.

Stoner was fastest in the wet conditions, and had soon established a lead of almost six seconds. Pedrosa was also steadily on his own in second, with a group of seven riders racing for third. Leading them was Dovizioso, who was putting distance between himself and Elías. Capirossi took back the next place from Hayden, but Nicky repaid the compliment at Sunway Lagoon. Lorenzo also overtook Loris, followed by Rossi at turn one, with Melandri behind them.

Stoner was gone, and the next three were getting spaced out as they carried on kicking up the spray. There was a sustained tussle between the next pair, with Lorenzo braking inside Hayden at turn four, the right-handed Langkawai Curve. Nicky surged back around the outside at the fast left bend of turn five, then turn nine saw Jorge go ahead again - with the Ducati man back through on the inside at turn ten, the right-hand Berjaya Tioman Corner. Lorenzo finally made it stick with a move just ahead of turn one.

Stoner was over eight seconds ahead, with this heading up to almost twelve by one-third distance. Dovizioso settled in just shy of second placed team-mate Pedrosa, now well clear of Elías. Once into fifth, Lorenzo pushed on and left Rossi to squeeze through inside Hayden in the slow loop left turn two, Pangkor Laut Chicane. Meanwhile, Capirossi also fell behind Melandri, the Kawasaki man better able to match Hayden’s pace.

The Yamaha surge saw Elías the next to fall victim to Lorenzo, who got through on the inside exiting Langkawai. Rossi also got by the 26-year-old, who then would soon be under attack from Hayden, with Melandri also catching. With Rossi tracking Lorenzo almost move for move, his latest championship title was virtually assured. But more than that he wanted to be ahead, and he duly made it happen on the inside for turn nine. They were now leaving the next group behind.

Stoner was by now leading by 14s, with the small gap between Pedrosa and Dovizioso not changing much. Fourth man Rossi now started to ease clear of Lorenzo, while the race for sixth was on. Hayden attacked Elías on the outside for turn one, but with the Honda man braking later. However, then Nicky forced inside for Pangkor Laut to make the pass. Melandri was close behind, but ran wide at the final left hairpin turn 15, and after that he dropped off a touch.

Half-distance saw Rossi now the fastest man, as he closed the gap to Dovizioso to around 2.8s. A few laps later, with seven to go, Andrea made his exit as he suffered a lowside crash when both the front and rear folded under him at turn five. Rossi was promoted to a podium position, and was about 2.5s behind Pedrosa at this stage, with Stoner 17s in front and clearly on course for a dominant win. Lorenzo was on his own in fourth, with Hayden also having got away from Elías.

Five laps from the end there were dry lines showing on the track in some places, but it was still wet enough to rule out the prospect of pit stops. The late laps were about Rossi’s chase of Pedrosa, and Vermeulen’s progress further back. The Australian is a known performer in wet races, although he says he doesn’t like them any more than anyone else, and he was showing why again here. After dropping a couple of places on lap one, Chris had got by Talmácsi, de Angelis and Kallio. He got a place from Melandri at turn one, then also went by Elías.

Stoner was on his way, and Rossi was just under two seconds behind Pedrosa. With a couple of laps left he seemed to accept that this was enough, as Dani continued to respond. They finished in this order, with Lorenzo fourth. Hayden was fifth, from Vermeulen, Elías, Melandri and Capirossi, who had regained a couple of places. Kallio headed the remainder, from Espargaró, de Angelis, Edwards, Talmácsi and Toseland. Clearly the Tech 3 pair had not got the answer on this occasion.

Valentino Rossi was the MotoGP World Champion again, his second title under the 800cc formula, but his seventh in the premier class Grand Prix series. It was of course his ninth GP world title in total. His celebrations involved T-shirts (and a new golden crash helmet) with the slogan ‘Gallina Vecchia’ and showing the chicken that had laid its ninth golden egg. There was also a live chicken and an egg prop. Apparently this all related to the fact that his latest title proves that he’s still not too old, perhaps in reference to an Italian saying.

The race had been comprehensively Casey Stoner’s, and it was his twentieth in the MotoGP class. There has only been a single additional win for Ducati since Casey joined them three seasons ago, which was for Loris Capirossi in Japan 2007. Given the way that wet weather conditions are a great leveller when it comes to competitive machinery, perhaps it was a surprise that the four leading riders for the season as a whole ended up leading the rest home today. But of course the likes of Capirossi, Elías and de Puniet had featured well at times, with Andrea Dovizioso also looking to be a match for Dani Pedrosa on this occasion. Dani seems to have conquered racing in the wet, while maybe Andrea proved that he hasn’t quite. Hayden and Vermeulen both did better than usual, but who will go out on a high at the final race?

Standings after sixteen races: Rossi 286; Lorenzo 245; Stoner 220; Pedrosa 209; Dovizioso 152; Edwards 148; Capirossi and Melandri 108; de Angelis, Elías and Vermeulen 105; de Puniet 101.
Yamaha 366; Honda 272; Ducati 261; Suzuki 131; Kawasaki 108.

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