FIAT Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi took the checkered flag in an enthralling Malaysian MotoGP which saw the Italian claim his first win since his comeback from injury. But the star of the show was Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who claimed third place which was good enough to stretch his lead in the championship far enough to see the 23 year old crowned the 2010 MotoGP World Champion.
The race itself was a classic in itself. Pole sitter Lorenzo had a blinding start off the line but was unable to shake off the Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso. Behind them, Rossi had a shocker of a start, falling from 6th to 11th by the first corner. As the leading pair started to create a gap at the front Ducati’s Casey Stoner, who had been a strong favorite for the race win, suffered more disappointment as he lost control of his machine and crashed out on Lap 1.
By Lap 3 Rossi had carved his way through the field to 4th and was soon 3rd, chasing down Dovizioso. After putting in some stunning laps and showing why he is a 9 times world champion, Rossi was all over the back of the Repsol Honda. Cue a 3 rider fight for the lead. Each rider put in stunning overtaking moves to take the lead but it was eventually Rossi and Dovizioso who started to pull away from Lorenzo, the champion elect opting to finish safely as appose to not finishing at all.
At the run to the line it was Rossi who stayed in front to claim his first win since the Qatar opener, with Dovizioso continuing his strong run of form to claim 2nd, and a jubilant Lorenzo wheelied across the line in 3rd. Jorge celebrated in typically different fashion, with 2 of his mechanics dressed as Mario and Luigi, Lorenzo held up a sign to the onboard camera with a simple message… “Game Over”.
Behind the leading trio, Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Ben Spies claimed another strong result with 4th place, proving that when he jumps on to the factory Yamaha he will be a force to be reckoned with. Ãlvaro Bautista grabbed a great result for Rizla Suzuki by coming in 5th after a long battle with Ducati’s Nicky Hayden who finished in 6th, after shocking in qualifying and starting in 2nd, Hiroshi Aoyama who finished in 7th on the Interwetten Honda followed, with Marco Simoncelli on his San Carlo Honda Gresini finishing in 8th.
Simonchelli was in most of the major battles during the race, after even scrapping with Rossi at one stage. Marco Melandri came in 9th on the 2nd San Carlo Honda Gresini and Randy de Puniet on the solo LCR Honda completed the top ten.
Loris Capirossi had a bad time on the 2nd Rizla Suzuki having retired due to an electrical failure with Aleix Espargaró and Pramac Ducati having yet another poor weekend, after the rookie ended his race on his side at the side of the track after another lowside. Colin Edwards faced disappointment on his Monster Yamaha Tech3 experiencing difficulties that meant he failed to finish, even though the team attempted to fix them.
Hector Barbera finished in 11th on the solo Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati and Mika Kallio scored a finish for Pramac Ducati, being the last of the classified finishers in 12th.
