Valentino Rossi finished third on the podium for the Malaysian GP, earning
enough points to claim his ninth MotoGP World Championship title. The
polesitter was scored has low as tenth in today's wet race, before fighting
his way back to the final podium spot. Rossi earned his seventh crown in the
premier class in superb form, even risking all to pass Fiat Yamaha teammate
Jorge Lorenzo.
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Podium: third place and 2009 MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, Fiat Yamaha Team. Photo by Yamaha Motor Racing.
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"It's great to be World Champion again, I am very proud to have done this
nine times in my career," said the Doctor. "I want to thank everyone in my
team, Furusawa-san, Davide Brivio, Lin Jarvis, Jeremy...everybody! This
season has been very hard and Lorenzo especially has pushed me to new
limits, but I think it's been a great duel for everyone to watch. Today was
unbelievable, when the rain came it was scary for everyone because all the
work we'd done was then useless and we were riding 'blind' with the setting.
I made a mistake at the first corner and then I was a long way back, so I
think I did a great race to finish third!
"It's a fantastic feeling to take this title with Yamaha again and I also
must thank Bridgestone, who have done a great job with the tyres all year.
My celebration was because in Italy we say an old chicken makes good soup
but can no longer lay eggs! I am like the old chicken - 30 years now - but I
have made another egg! That's nine!" added Rossi.
While the Italian fought his way to wrap up the championship, Casey Stoner
was after another win. The Australian quickly leapt into the lead from
fourth on the gird and never looked back. Stoner's strength in the wet was
unmatched today, crossing the line 14 seconds over second placed Dani
Pedrosa.
"I didn't get a brilliant start but I was happy to be in fourth as we came
out of turn two and by the end of the first lap I was clear by a second,"
Stoner explained. "I have to be honest, I didn't expect to be so far ahead
so early in the race but when I looked up and saw 3 seconds on my pit board
I decided to step the pace up even more and try an escape. I kept pulling
out a second a lap and then eventually decided to back it off and not take
any risks. This is another fantastic day for us and I want to thank
everybody in the team for their effort.
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Podium: race winner Casey Stoner, Ducati Marlboro Team. Photo by Bridgestone Corporation.
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"We're really strong now and I can only see us getting stronger from here,
which is great news for next season. I want to congratulate Valentino
because to win nine World Championships is an incredible achievement. I'm
sure that if we continue to work like this ourselves we can put up a much
stronger challenge next time," added the Ducati rider.
The heavens opened open over the Sepang circuit just as the penultimate
round of the MotoGP series was about to get underway. For over half an hour
the riders and teams had to wait out the torrential downpour before lining
up on the start line. Lorenzo had to switch to his backup Yamaha just as the
grid was forming, the primary bike wasn't fit for today's race. While trying
to shakedown the secondary bike the Spaniard missed his opportunity to grid
in third, and was forced to start at the back.
At the start Dani Pedrosa took a tentative lead while Rossi went very wide
and lost multiple positions. Meanwhile Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso
was moving up from 11th. By the end of the first lap Stoner was able to
force his way into the lead, with Pedrosa second and Dovizioso in a
surprising third. Rossi was passed by Lorenzo as the Spaniard cut through
the field from dead last.
The Yamaha pair continued to carve their way into the top five when Rossi
made a daring move around Lorenzo, almost losing it all to take fourth for
himself. With his head down the champ went after Dovizioso. The Honda rider
might have felt the pressure as he went wide and off the track, ending what
was a brilliant ride so far and handing Rossi the final podium spot. Pedrosa
was next in the Doctor's sights but there wasn't enough laps left to get
past the Spaniard.
Pedrosa is pleased to podium in the wet, and acknowledged it wasn't easy
with pressure from his teammate in the middle of the race before adding,
"Finally when Andrea went off, another rider was coming and this time it was
Valentino. He was going quite a lot faster than me, but in the last laps I
kept my rhythm and was able to finish in second place. I'm very happy today.
I also want to congratulate Valentino on the world championship - nine
titles is amazing. Now we go to Valencia and we'll be trying hard again
there. It's a track that I love and there will be a lot of fans too, so I'm
looking forward to it."
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Start: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team leads the field. Photo by Bridgestone Corporation.
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As the points stand, Rossi is first, Lorenzo second and Stoner has solidly
moved into the third spot with his win today. Pedrosa now finds himself
fourth, getting beaten by a rider that was forced to missed three races this
season. In Valencia the Spaniard will have to but in a strong performance if
he wants to retake third in the championship from Stoner.
With the title fight over Lorenzo too will be looking for a strong season
finish in front of his fellow countrymen in Spain to become vice-champion.
The Yamaha rider had a great race today, almost scoring a podium from the
back of the gird. One point next race and Lorenzo will finish his second
year in the premier class as runner up to the title. It will only be a
matter of time before this youngster can claim his own crown. Hopefully
he'll do it running against Rossi, as they seem to feed off each other's
drive for perfection.
"I want to start by giving my congratulations to Valentino and all his team.
He is the champion. As for the race, today was a difficult day," said
Lorenzo. "However it was a great race for me in difficult circumstances and
we finished fourth, not so bad. It's been a great season and I could never
have expected to be fighting with Valentino like this so early in my career.
Now I just need one point in Valencia and I will have my goal of being the
vice-champion."
