Valentino Rossi Took 9th World Champion as Casey Stoner Won Malaysian GP

Casey Stoner grabbed his second win in succession today with a display of absolute dominance in torrential condition at Sepang, where his Ducati Marlboro team-mate Nicky Hayden picked up a fantastic fifth place. A heavy tropical downpour just moments before the MotoGP riders were due to take to the track for the penultimate round of the 20009 season saw the race delayed by 36 minutes, but once the lights went out Stoner proved once again that he is a master of any condition. After taking the lead on the first lap the Australian opened up an advantage of almost four seconds by the end of the second circulation – increasing it lap by lap to over 17 seconds at one point as he stormed to his fourth victory of the season, becoming the first rider ever to win at Sepang from the second row of the grid.



Valentino Rossi made yet another case for the claim that he is the Greatest Roadracer of all time by taking his 9th World Champion title and 7th Premier class crown today after finishing third, behind Dani Pedrosa who put in a valiant effort in second and looked in danger of being passed by his teammate Andrea Dovizioso before he crashed out at 2/3rds distance.

Nicky Hayden also produced an excellent demonstration of wet weather riding as he guided his Desmosedici GP9 to fifth place from seventh on the grid. The American was involved in a series of breathtaking battles throughout the 22-lap affair, passing Loris Capirossi and Toni Elias with his trademark style and determination and fighting to hold off title contenders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. One round remaining at Valencia in two weeks’ time, when Stoner and Hayden will look to be amongst the front runners once again.