Pedrosa wins Malaysian GP

MotoGP: Determined Dani does it as Marc sets up Island chance
1 Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 40m 45.191s • 2 Marc Marquez (Honda), 2.757s down • 3 Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), 6.669s down

On a weekend that started with bitterness all round, Dani Pedrosa emerged on top for the second year running at Sepang. The 28-year-old Spaniard scored his first win since round four in France, his third of the season, to lead home Repsol Honda teammate Marc Marquez and Yamaha’s defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo. The result keeps Pedrosa, who trails Marquez and Lorenzo, in with a slim chance of the title, although Marquez now has a 43-point advantage and could wrap it up at Phillip Island later this week.

Ahead of the race Marquez was given a penalty point for his part in the Aragon incident that ended Pedrosa’s race there. Lorenzo was sarcastic in his response: "The Jerez action was a great show, and Silverstone, and Laguna when he passed Valentino outside of the track was a great show, so I think they should encourage that type of action to make an example to the young riders…I think they are wrong (about the one penalty point). They have too many penalties. They should have given him one more point in the championship!"

Marquez set all that aside and went in successful pursuit of his eighth pole position of the season as Pedrosa and Lorenzo qualified on the second row. Alongside Marquez was Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi, in his best qualifying performance since Japan 2010, but the Italian was swamped at the start as Lorenzo sped away into the lead.

For a brief spell in the middle of the 20 laps it was one of the races of the year as first Pedrosa on lap 6 and then Marquez on lap 9 elbowed – literally – their way past a desperate Lorenzo. At three-quarter distance Marquez chose discretion over valour and settled for second behind his teammate and an extension of his title lead.

"I am very happy with this win, as it is very special," said Pedrosa, who was recovering from painful hip and groin injuries after the Aragon incident. "My level of riding today was very good and the victory comes after a difficult week – in which I was laid up in bed and could hardly move. To come here and win is fantastic, so thanks to all my team! It is a pity about what happened in Aragón, because we had the pace and the same chance of the win as we did here."

Marquez is now firmly on course to be the first rookie for 35 years to win the senior title.

"When I finally managed to overtake Jorge and make the pass stick, I tried to reduce the distance that Dani had put between us," he said. "However, I saw that it was too risky to do so. From that moment on, I decided to focus on keeping Lorenzo at bay, because the goal here was to finish the race ahead of him.

"We did what we came here to do, so we are very happy!" said Marquez.

If the young Repsol Honda rider wins at Phillip Island and Lorenzo is third or worse then Marquez will take his compatriot’s crown then and there.

"To win the championship is almost impossible,” said Lorenzo, who has yet to win in the premier class in Malaysia, "but I would like to finish second in the championship and win as many races as possible,” he added.

Behind Rossi in fourth there was an entertaining fight between Alvaro Bautista’s Gresini Honda and Cal Crutclow’s Tech 3 Yamaha, eventually won by the Spaniard.

Three riders were given ride-through penalties for jumping the start, including Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards:

"First time I have ever jumped the start which is why you just don’t jump the start, because it’s stupid. I don’t know what happened, I think I blinked, I was ready to go, I blinked and I flinched. Anyways, I came in and did my ride through and from that point on I just put my head down and give it everything I had," said Edwards.

That was enough to bring the Texan back into the points in 15th.

Australia’s Damian Cudlin again had an early finish on the PBM, a cracked exhaust forcing him into retirement after seven laps, while Bryan Staring’s Gresini Honda CRT machine was 18th and last of the classified finishers.

Moto2: Tito wins from pole, Pol closes gap on Scott
1 Esteve Rabat (Kalex), 25m 45.411s • 2 Pol Espargaro (Kalex), 1.563s down • 3 Tom Lüthi (Suter) 2.910s down

While Esteve Rabat claimed his third win of 2013 from pole position, his Tuenti HP40 Kalex teammate Pol Espargaro has set up a thrilling run to the end of the Moto2 World Championship by finishing second. With current leader Scott Redding only seventh on his Marc VDS Kalex, the English rider is now just nine points ahead of Espargaro with three races to go. Rabat, though, remains in contention as Redding struggles to recover his early-season form.

The race was restarted and cut to 12 laps after a major accident on lap one of the scheduled 19. Axel Pons fell from his Tuenti HP40 bike on the back straight and triggered a multiple pile-up in which, happily, no-one was seriously hurt. Held up by a Turn 1 accident at the restart, Redding fell back and was never in the hunt. Interwetten Suter’s Tom Lüthi finished third for the fourth time this season while Aussie Ant West celebrated his 200th start by coming through to finish 13th.

Moto3: Luis leaves it late but extends lead
1 Luis Salom (KTM), 40m 42.441s • 2 Alex Rins (KTM), 0.069s down • 3 Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra), 0.408s down

Luis Salom judged his 18-lap race to perfection to record his seventh win of the season and open up a 14-point lead with three races remaining. Starting from his third pole position of 2013 – his first since Catalunya eight races ago – the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider let Estrella Galicia pair Alex Marquez and Alex Rins fight it out between them before pulling off a superb inside move on the final corner to beat Rins and Mahindra’s Miguel Oliveira to the line.

“It was incredible!” beamed Salom. “I think it was the toughest race this year. It was a really tough last lap – but really, really beautiful!” Oliveira too was delighted with his first podium of 2013 and the first-ever for the Indian Mahindra outfit. “It feels great,” said the Portuguese rider. “For sure it wasn’t easy but finally I think we deserve it.”

Australia’s Jack Miller rode a storming finish to be sixth on his Caretta – RTG FTR Honda. It could have been fifth but for an aggressive last-lap move by Maverick Viñales which earned the Spaniard a penalty point. Compatriot Arthur Sissis had his race ruined in contact with another rider and finished 19th on the Red Bull KTM Ajo.