Rossi cruises to win in Malaysia

Newly crowned world champion Valentino Rossi eased to victory over Dani Pedrosa in the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang on Sunday.

The Yamaha rider passed pole-sitter Pedrosa on lap 10 and was never troubled from that point onwards, winning by more than four seconds.

Andrea Dovizioso, Pedrosa's team-mate at Repsol Honda next season, was third.

Casey Stoner's sixth place finish was enough to secure him second place in the championship overall.

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Afterwards, Rossi revealed that back in February after a particularly successful simulation test of the circuit, he had promised to his tyre technician that he would win the Sepang race.

"This track is very good for Yamaha and the type of corner is good for my riding style," he said.

"I made a good start, I wanted to try and attack Dani before but he was very fast exiting from the slow corner, so it was quite difficult.

"The last five laps alone in front were difficult, but I have more experience than Dani with these tyres, so it's quite normal that I'm a bit faster. This weekend we worked very well."

Pedrosa, who switched to Bridgestone tyres mid-season and crashed last time out in Australia, said he was happy with his day's work.

"When I was in front I felt that Valentino was comfortable behind me all the time," he said.

"I knew that he would push when in front, but I was unable to improve my pace. Valentino always gives more in the race than in practice, and we need to learn this and push harder.

"The weekend had started hard, but we kept improving and finally were able to get second. Second place is very good and we are happy with this."

Malaysian MotoGP result:

1 V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 43:06.007
2 D Pedrosa (Spn) Honda 43:10.015
3 A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 43:14.543
4 N Hayden (US) Honda 43:14.865
5 S Nakano (Jpn) Honda 43:16.590
6 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 43:19.647
7 L Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki 43:21.943
8 C Edwards (US) Yamaha 43:24.809
9 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 43:29.181
10 R de Puniet (Fra) Honda 43:31.523

World championship standings:

1 V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 357 points * world champion
2 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 255
3 D Pedrosa (Spn) Honda 229
4 J Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha 182
5 A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 161
6 N Hayden (US) Honda 144
7 C Edwards (US) Yamaha 134
8 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 125
9 S Nakano (Jpn) Honda 117
10 L Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki 111

250cc race result:

1 A Bautista (Spn) Aprilia 42:56.428
2 H Aoyama (Jpn) KTM 42:59.014
3 M Simoncelli (Ita) Gilera 43:04.771

250cc championship standings:

1 M Simoncelli (Ita) Gilera 256 points * world champion
2 A Bautista (Spn) Aprilia 228
3 M Kallio (Fin) KTM 191

125cc race result:
1 G Talmacsi (Hng) Aprilia 43:00.716
2 B Smith (GB) Aprilia @ 3.416 secs
3 S Corsi (Ita) Aprilia @ 6.896

125cc championship standings:

1 M di Meglio (Fra) Derbi 248 points
2 G Talmacsi (Hng) Aprilia 206
3 S Corsi (Ita) Aprilia 200

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