In 104 degree heat, Rossi stalked pole-sitter Dani Pedrosa for half the race before making the decisive move into the uphill left-hander turn nine and securing the lead by blocking Pedrosa into turn ten.
Pedrosa stuck around for a few laps, but the lead was over a second on lap 13 and finished at 4.008 secs., which Rossi celebrated with a wheelie down the length of the straightaway.
The win was the ninth of the year for Rossi, who clinched the World Championship in Japan three weeks ago.
Rossi has a 102 point lead on Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner, a disappointing sixth today with undisclosed machine problems. Pedrosa, who finished a safe second, is third with 229.
The best race of the day was the battle for the final podium.
It was waged among three Honda riders, JiR Team Scot MotoGP’s Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden, and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Shinya Nakano, after he’d dispatched with a struggling Stoner on the 16th lap. But mostly it was Dovi against Hayden.
Hayden moved into third on the 18th lap with an inside move into turn one before he ran it wide and Dovi snuck through. But Hayden went straight back in the transition to the right hand turn four.
The lead was short-lived and Dovi soon took it back. This time he wouldn’t give it up.
Hayden probed on the final lap, but Dovi was resolute and earned his first ever MotoGP podium. It was Hayden’s fourth fourth place finish in Sepang.
Nakano finished 1.7 secs. behind Hayden, a commendable effort considering he’d qualified 15th. Nakano said he could see Stoner was having problems, but he could only speculate what it might have been.
“I don’t know exactly, but sometimes he checked the engine or rear end,” Nakano said.
Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi was alone in seventh after passing Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards on the 15th lap.
Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen was ninth, comfortably in front of LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet and Kawasaki’s John Hopkins, another two seconds back.
Two riders didn’t make the finish. First out was Tech 3 Yamaha’s James Toseland, the Englishman crashing on the second lap. Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo crashed just after he’d passed Nakano on the 11th lap.
Metis Gilera’s Marco Simoncelli clinched the 250cc World Championship with a third place finish behind Mapfre Aspar Aprilia’s Alvaro Bautista and Red Bull KTM 250’s Hiroshi Aoyama.
The 125cc race was won by Bancaja Aspar Aprilia’s Gabor Talmacsi over Polaris World’s Bradley Smith and Simone Corsi on the Jack & Jones WRB Aprilia.
MotoGP:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)
2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)
4. Nicky Hayden (Honda)
5. Shinya Nakano (Honda)
6. Casey Stoner (Ducati)
7. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki)
8. Colin Edwards (Yamaha)
9. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki)
10. Randy de Puniet (Honda)
11. John Hopkins (Kawasaki)
12. Anthony West (Kawasaki)
13. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)
14. Alex de Angelis (Honda)
15. Toni Elias (Ducati)
