Valentino Rossi comes to Malaysia this week just days after clinching his first 500 World Championship by winning the closest-ever 500 Grand Prix. The Italian sneaked victory in the all-time classic at Phillip Island by just 0.013 seconds from arch-rival Max Biaggi (Yamaha). Just 2.832 seconds separated the first nine riders at the chequered flag.

Rossi's ninth win of the year was proof positive of his genius. All he needed do to secure the crown was finish eighth, but he battled throughout in the style of a true champion. Now he aims to complete the greatest season of his remarkable career with two more wins, first of all at Sepang on Sunday, then again at the Rio de Janeiro finale on Saturday November 3.

Rossi last raced at Sepang in April 2000, his second competitive outing on a 500. That race ended the same way as his 500 debut had ended two weeks earlier in South Africa, with a fall. From these inauspicious beginnings Rossi quickly adapted his style to 500 riding, winning his first GP at Donington Park in July of last year. Since then his progress towards the 500 World Championship has been relentless.

When Rossi won the first three GPs of 2001 there seemed little doubt that he would go on to take the title, but the style in which he achieved that goal is the stuff of legend. His Phillip Island win also moved him into the all-time top-ten GP winners' list and completed the triple crown of 125, 250 and 500 World Championships. In 53 years of Grand Prix racing only one man had previously accomplished this triple, and that was Briton Phil Read, who took ten years to collect the titles during the Sixties and Seventies. Rossi took just five years, winning the 125s in 1997, the 250s in 1999 and now the 500s.

"This has been a fantastic season, not only for me but also for the fans," says Rossi, whose toughest rivals have been compatriots Biaggi (Marlboro Yamaha) and Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500). "The level of the competition has been very high. Most of the GPs have been much faster than before and I think the competition between us three Italians has maintained the level, both in qualifying and in the races. All three of us want to win very much!

"Sepang should be fun, but also a little strange because I've already won the title, so I don't have that target to reach any more. But I will race the same way I raced at Phillip Island, to win. Last time I raced at Sepang wasn't so good, but I was a 500 novice then! This time I return with more experience, and I also had a good time when I tested there in January."

Rossi's crew chief Jerry Burgess is also looking forward to the Malaysian GP. A legend of the GP pit lane, Burgess has worked with three other Honda 500 World Champions: Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner and Mick Doohan.

"Winning the World Championship won't change anything we do, the procedure throughout the Sepang weekend will be the same as always," he says. "But obviously it might take some of the pressure off Valentino, so he can relax and go all out to win. Sepang has been a difficult track for Honda, so it's very important for us to do well there because that would prove that we've now got a much better bike. We've done a lot of work on the NSR over the last four or five races."

While Rossi can enjoy the luxury of winning for the sheer pleasure of it, fellow NSR500 rider Capirossi needs all the points he can get. Currently third overall, he lies 24 points behind Biaggi and just 19 ahead of team-mate Alex Barros (West Honda Pons NSR500). "Every rider begins the season aiming to be World Champion," says the 28-year old who has yet to win a race this year. "But if you can't do that, you want the next best thing, so second is better than third and fourth is worse than third! It will be difficult to catch Biaggi, though I will try my best, while also making sure I make no mistakes which might help Alex catch me."

Last Sunday Capirossi finished right between his points rivals, just 0.568 seconds behind Biaggi and 0.133 seconds ahead of Barros, who led most of the early stages. "That was a great race, though sometimes a little too close for comfort," said the Brazilian. "I don't expect we'll be so close at Sepang. It's a good track, though I struggled there last year, qualifying seventh and finishing eighth. But me and my team are stronger now, and for sure I think we'll be going for another podium finish.

Biaggi is keen to win his fourth race of the season. "The championship may have gone but I'm still giving 100 per cent to win some more races this year," says Biaggi, who finished a very close second in last Sunday's Australian GP. "I'm just hoping for a little more luck than I usually get at Sepang, for one reason or another I struggled at the last two Malaysian GPs."

However, Biaggi's winter testing form at Sepang suggests that things could be very different this weekend. Before last Christmas he slotted in an astonishingly fast 2m 05.4s lap, over 1.4 seconds inside the track record and the fastest pre-season lap. In last year's race Biaggi finished fourth at Sepang after an entertaining struggle with Garry McCoy (Yamaha) that showed their contrasting styles around the widest track in GP racing. The year before that technical trouble forced him out of the venue's inaugural GP, and he was third in the '98 Malaysian GP at Johor. Before his graduation to the 500 class Biaggi enjoyed an unbeaten run of four 250 victories at Shah Alam, original home of the Malaysian GP.

"I've had some good successes in Malaysia, because I enjoy racing in the heat and it doesn't affect me," he adds. "Of course, you do lose a lot of body weight, so it's important to eat properly and to drink plenty of water, but then we always do that anyway, we care about our health. The big thing is that your motorcycle is also in a good state of health!"

Biaggi and his crew know that Sepang is one of the year's most challenging racetracks, both from rider and machine points of view. "You need a very good package to get a good result there, so I'll be working very hard with my technicians," he continues. "The heat doesn't only make it difficult for us, it also makes life hard for the motorcycle and for the tyres."

While Sepang is a difficult weekend for everyone involved, the efforts of the teams and factories ultimately help produce better motorcycles and better tyres. "The hot and humid conditions make things especially tough for engine performance," says Yamaha's 500 Grand Prix project leader Masahiko Nakajima. "The bikes run very high engine and water temperatures, which makes it a difficult track, but it's an ideal place to investigate our engines to maintain good development."

Sepang is one of the longest tracks on the World Championship calendar - only Assen and Suzuka are longer - and boasts the longest-lasting lap in Grand Prix racing, several seconds longer than the Dutch and Japanese venues.

The Malaysian GP venue is also one of the widest racetracks in the world, putting riders and machines to the test with an excellent variety of corners and high-speed straights. Withering heat and humidity are further challenges, not only for riders and machines, but also for technicians and everyone else working in pit lane.

Sepang hosted its first Grand Prix in April 1999 and was an instant hit with riders and teams. The state-of-the-art complex, built adjacent to Kuala Lumpur's brand-new international airport, took circuit and infrastructure design to a new level, combining a fast, safe track layout with ultra-impressive pit, media and corporate facilities.

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