Racing: Rossi clinches title as Stoner sizzles

Australian Casey Stoner was the runaway race victor in the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix at a wet Sepang this afternoon, with Valentino Rossi's third place good enough to secure his ninth world title - and seventh in the premier class.

Stoner's second successive win on the Marlboro Ducati was impressive enough, as was his astounding 14.666-second victory margin, but it was the Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) who stole the major limelight.

"It's great to be world champion again, and I am very proud to have done this nine times in my career," said Rossi. "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! I was going to try to pass Dovizioso when he fell and then for a few laps I thought I would try to get Pedrosa, but with wet tyres on a drying track it was a bit risky by then and so I decided to be safe.

"It's a fantastic feeling to take this title with Yamaha again and I also must thank Bridgestone, which has 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!"

The race started on a wet track after a 35-minute delay due to rain, and there was drama from the off. For Jorge Lorenzo, a problem with his machine during the sighting lap meant that failure to join the starting grid in time resulted in relegation from second to the back.

It made little difference to the Spaniard however as he flew up to overtake Rossi, who dropped to 10th after a sluggish start from pole position. Lorenzo eventually finished in fourth position.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) had a very early nasty high-side which fortunately resulted in no injury for the Frenchman, as Stoner established a four-second lead at the front over Danie Pedrosa after just two laps.

Nicky Hayden was dogged in his attempt to hold off Lorenzo in fifth place, but the Fiat Yamaha rider managed to pass the Ducati Marlboro man before Rossi passed both to move into fourth spot after eight laps.

Shortly after, Stoner's lead at the front had grown to a huge 15 seconds, but there was no such deficit between Pedrosa in third and his Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who diced for second spot. Disaster struck for the Italian however, as on lap 14 he succumbed to the wet conditions and slid off, allowing Rossi to move up to third and target Pedrosa.

The Spaniard was out of Rossi's grasp for the remainder however, but third was one place higher than he required to take the title (had Lorenzo won the race), and a characteristically flamboyant celebration followed involving a chicken dressed in the Italian's blue and yellow colours.

Elsewhere, Aleix Espargaró impressed with 11th place in his third MotoGP race of the campaign for Pramac, while Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pair Colin Edwards and James Toseland both struggled, finishing in 13th and 15th respectively.

After Lorenzo took fourth spot he duly handed hearty congratulations to Rossi, with Hayden equalling his second-best result of the season in fifth. Australian Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki), Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing), Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) completed the top 10.

Click on the following link for full results and standings.