World champion Valentino Rossi claimed his seventh MotoGP title in a thrilling race at the Malaysian Moto GP !
October 28th, 2009
Casey Stoner (Australia) won the MOTO GP race but the Italian secured the title by coming in third on his Yamaha. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) was second.
Valentino Rossi said he was delighted to seal the championship title with 1 race to go. "With one round to go, I have clinched the world title. I like to thank all the people who helped me achieve this. We did some great fight !".
Heavy rain delayed the start of the race by over half an hour and played a major part when the race finally got under way.
Rossi started on pole but failed to hold the lead and went wide into the first corner with a pack of riders, led by Pedrosa and Stoner, who had overtaken him with ease. Stoner, fresh from victory at Phillip Island, passed Pedrosa and never looked back, romping home easily.
The 2007 champion in Sepang, Stoner came home in 47min 24.834sec, while Pedrosa was adrift at 14.666sec and Rossi narrowly behind him. Rossi's Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was fourth. "I got a good start," said Stoner, who began in the second row on the grid. I did not expect to pull such a gap. I am happy with the pace. I am looking forward to the race in Valencia."