Having reclaimed second position in the championship with a fourth placed finish in his home race at Motegi last Sunday, Tohru Ukawa continues to prove his consistency and quality this season, taking provisional pole position in the MotoGP class at the Gauloises Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix this afternoon. Ukawa has taken eight podiums this season, including one victory, but his reliable performances have been somewhat overshadowed by his team-mate Rossi's achievements. Nevertheless the Japanese rider is still riding impressively on the RC211V, and demonstrated that he should not be ignored in the race on Sunday, as he finished quickest of the four Honda V5s leading the way after the first day of qualifying.

"It was a difficult morning session," explained the 29 year-old, "because the bikes were down on power somewhat, and that led to set-up problems with them. The team worked really hard before the qualifiers and things felt a good deal better. We still have to work on the set-up for our suspension, and then we should be able to confirm this front row position."

Ukawa led a front row of all Honda RC211Vs, with World Champion Rossi tucked in behind him after setting his best lap on his fourth time round and discovering similar problems to those he had found in Japan. After being forced to retire in front of his home fans at the weekend, Daijiro Kato managed third position in the session, but crashed his machine after having set his best time, meaning the reigning 250cc World Champion, who won the title here with victory last year, will feel he is still able to improve after missing the last part of the hour.

Buoyed by his win in Motegi, Alex Barros completes the provisional front row, at a Sepang circuit which should suit the more powerful bikes with its two back-to-back long straights. Despite the circuit layout, Garry McCoy steered his YZR500 into fifth position on the grid, the Australian an apparent fan of the circuit he has scored podiums at in both of the last two years. Biaggi, Capirossi and Roberts made up the second row, with hopes that the rain which fell within seconds of the MotoGP practice will not return at a more inopportune time tomorrow.

The brief rain showers prevented the 250 riders from testing their machines to the limits, with most riders only having two or three laps on slick tyres towards the end of the 45 minutes. Eventually Toni Elias snatched provisional pole in the dying moments, completing a good week for the Spaniard after he won his first 250 race last weekend. Marco Melandri was just behind him, with Sebastian Porto in third, while Fonsi Nieto completed row one knowing that he must finish three points ahead of Melandri this week if he wants to keep alive any hope he may still have of winning the 250 title.  Australia's Casey Stoner was 12th quickest, "Today (Friday) was a difficult qualifying session as it started raining at the beginning and the dried out at the end. As this is my first time at this track I really needed this afternoon to find a setting for the bike. At least I qualified on the third row and if it rains tomorrow (Saturday) this is not so bad. I will try tomorrow to cure the problems I have and go faster."

Another to follow on from where he left off last week in Japan, Dani Pedrosa was the fastest rider in the 125cc class today, with a last lap surge which saw him smash Toni Elias' pole record of last year by over a second. The top three in the championship were the top three in the session, with Manuel Poggiali second and Arnaud Vincent third, and it will be a massive showdown between the three this weekend as they all stake their claim for the title which looks certain to take yet another turn as the season nears its close.  Mildura 15-year-old Josh Waters was 32nd out of 34 riders in 125 qualifying, just ahead of his team-mate.

1. Ukawa 2m05.106
2. Rossi 2m05.195
3. Kato 2m05.356
4. Barros 2m05.702
5. McCoy 2m05.743
6. Biaggi 2m05.911
7. Capirossi 2m05.944
8. Roberts 2m06.047
9. McWilliams 2m06.089
10. Harada 2m06.244
11. Checa 2m06.323
12. Goorbergh 2m06.570
13. Nakano 2m06.691
14. Aoki 2m06.731
15. Gibernau 2m06.977
16. Jacque 2m07.053
17. Ryo 2m07.070
18. Abe 2m07.144
19. Hopkins 2m07.761
20. Cardoso 2m08.136
21. Laconi 2m08.307
22. Pitt 2m10.628

• Oct 11 - Round 14 - Team Reports from first qualifying at the Malaysian GP - Yamaha - Kawasaki - Proton -

• Oct 11 - Round 14 - Stoner 12th in 250 first qualifying

• Oct 11 - Round 14 - First Qualifying from Sepang, Andrew Pitt and the new Kawasaki are five seconds off the pace

• Oct 11 - Round 14 - Josh Waters was 32nd fastest out of 34 riders in 125 first qualifying, just ahead of his team-mate

• Oct 11 - News - Wayne Gardner crashed heavily during qualifying for the Bathurst Endurance car race this morning.  Today is also his 43rd birthday, reports suggest Gardner was slightly concussed but he has now been released from the medical centre

• Oct 11 - Round 14 - MotoGP First Practice, Sepang

• Oct 10 - News - Young Casey Stoner has at least one race win under his belt so far at Sepang, today he beat Biaggi, Barros and Rossi in a Go-Kart race at the Malaysian circuit.  Stoner had qualified on pole for the kart race but then it was started on a reverse grid, so Casey had to charge through the pack from behind and still took the win!

• Oct 10 - Round 14 - Yamaha explain the set-up criteria for Sepang

• Oct 10 - News - Proton's V5 on track, Aoki and McWilliams to continue in 2003

• Oct 10 - Walk back in time - Sepang 2001 - Sepang 2000 -

• Oct 10 - News - First Colin Edwards was rumoured to be heading to Ducati SBK for 2003, then Yamaha GP, then Honda GP and the latest on the merry-go-round is an Aprilia GP bike..........Where ever it stops nobody knows...........

• Oct 10 - News - Clint Farr Memorial Trophy to be staged in conjunction with the SKYY Vodka Australian MotoGP

• Oct 10 - Round 14 - HRC Preview Sepang -

• Oct 8 - News - Bayliss completes his first MotoGP test

• Oct 8 - Round 14 - Dorna Previews Sepang - Suzuki Preview - Yamaha Preview -

• Oct 8 - Round 14 - Andrew Pitt will race the Kawasaki MotoGP machine at Sepang