MotoGP:Italian Valentino Rossi clinched the ninth world title of his career by finishing third in today's FIM MotoGP race in soggy Sepang behind Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.
Stoner’s second successive race victory was achieved with a yawning gap of 14.666seconds back to Pedrosa.
Yet it was Rossi’s achievement in Malaysia which dominated, as he duly defended the crown he won last year. For Pedrosa, minor honours were accompanied by the statistic of a 78th career podium finish.
Torrential rain caused a 35-minute delay and left behind a saturated track, on which Jorge Lorenzo was relegated from second to the back of the grid after a technical problem on the sighting lap.
The Spaniard nonetheless surged past Rossi, who started on pole but quickly dropped back to 10th. Lorenzo was eventually to finish fourth, just behind the Italian.
As Stoner began to grind out a huge advantage — four seconds in front after only two laps — Nicky Hayden, Lorenzo and Rossi jockeyed for their positions in behind.
Before mid-race, Stoner was 15 seconds ahead of the pack. Further back, Pedrosa and his Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso were engaged in a duel for second until the latter slid off on lap 14 on a still greasy track.
Rossi was therefore up to third — and although he could never get to Pedrosa, he had done enough.
Having comfortably ensured the title was his again, Rossi engaged in typically eccentric and flamboyant celebrations — involving a chicken, suitably dressed in the Fiat Yamaha rider’s blue and yellow colours — and was congratulated by his nearest rival and team-mate Lorenzo.
Behind Rossi, American Hayden finished fifth — equalling his second-best result of the campaign — and Aleix Espargaro marked his third race of the season by coming in a promising 11th.