The Italian rider was in pugilistic form at Sepang, trying to overcome an imperfect set-up by attacking his rivals on the brakes, with occasionally unforeseen outcomes. Despite Rossi's up and down performance on the day, his second place finish was part of a race in which the leading four-stroke machines of the new MotoGP generation cut a monumental 45 seconds off the previous best race time, set in 2001.

Long time leader Alex Barros (West Honda Pons RC211V) was one to be demoted by Rossi's attempted overtake, dropping both riders out of contention for the immediate lead mid-race and ultimately the race win; eventually taken by Yamaha rider Max Biaggi, by the margin of 0.542 seconds from Rossi.

Said Rossi of his latest MotoGP adventure: "My first rival was Ukawa, my team mate, and it was not such an easy race for me because my set-up was not so good. I lost the front twice and I didn't have the right feeling from the front from then on. I took Ukawa and Kato but with two seconds to Barros and Biaggi it was very difficult to catch them. When I did, Alex made a mistake and I tried to overtake him but we both arrived too fast, with Biaggi going into the lead. I had to release the brake, touched Alex and we ran wide. We lost the race basically."

For Barros it was a frustrating day but he was philosophical about not finally challenging for his second win in a week, despite leading for long periods of time, looking to have the measure of the chasing Biaggi.

"Maybe at some time I did the same thing to Valentino; try to overtake but make a mistake," shrugged Barros. "This is a sport so I do not take it too personally. If you try to pass and have some contact then this is normal. I lost the race when I made two mistakes. In the last laps we made some compromises to make it to the finish, and I could not overtake anyone because we were all evenly matched. This is only my second four-stroke GP race and we have made two podium finishes, so I should be happy and thank my team for that."

Barros regained enough composure and concentration to take a close third place for his satellite team, and remains fourth in the World Championship overall.

A real tussle with his team-mate Rossi saw Tohru Ukawa (Repsol Honda Team RC211V) fighting for the podium to start, then chase Barros home for an eventual fourth place.

"The first positive thing is that my machine felt good and I didn't have any major problems," stated Ukawa. "I got a good start and then started fighting with Valentino and Kato so that Biaggi and Barros wouldn't get away. I had a few frights with the front end tucking under and the rear sliding, mainly because the track temperature was so high. I can't complain about losing the podium. It was a good race and I tried as hard as I could."

Daijiro Kato (Fortuna Honda Gresini RC211V) fell prey to the advance of Rossi on lap five and Ukawa on lap six, running out fifth at the flag, the fourth Honda rider in the top five places.

"I had a little problem on the bike - imperfect settings on the front - and it tucked in on one of the corners, making me run straight on. I have to look to Phillip Island now because fifth place is not my full potential on this machine."

For front row qualifier Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500) the Sepang race was a tough challenge, and his concerns about the competitiveness of the two-stroke machines around the uniquely configured and lengthy Sepang circuit proved to have basis in fact. Capirossi was top two-stroke finisher on his NSR, albeit in ninth place.

"I am a professional and I go out to win every race I enter," said Capirossi of his Sepang experience. "I do my work as well as I can but it is very frustrating when you are a winning rider to finish 27 seconds behind the race winner. I was still 17 seconds faster than the race winner's time from last year obviously I tried my best but this circuit is the worst of the year for the two strokes."

Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Kanemoto Racing Honda NSR500) took 13th place after a race spent making progress from being 17th at the end of the first lap.

"I got quite a bad start and had to fight it out with Aoki, McWilliams and Laconi," said Jurgen of his early race showings. "We're getting better on tyre compounds and that shows on the overall lap times. My race time today would have given me second place in the race last year."

Tetsuya Harada (Pramac Honda NSR500) dropped out of the race on lap 11, with no hope of completing the race in a points scoring position.

The championship packs its travel cases for the penultimate round at Phillip Island on October 20, with the last race of the year taking place at Valencia, two weeks after that.

Quotes

Valentino Rossi, Repsol Honda Team: 2nd: "Our settings for the race were not perfect. We have been struggling all weekend really. The brakes were not great which resulted in the rear wheel was jumping a lot - it seems to be at sea. Towards the end of the race it seemed a little better but it is too late by then. We have a big battle with Barros and my team-mate Ukawa. I arrive at the corner very fast and I have to release the brake so not to crash with Barros. Ukawa comes past both me and Barros as we both went wide. By the time I manage to get past Ukawa I loose the momentum of the race and it is too late to fight for the lead. I don't mind fighting for position but sometimes Ukawa overtakes in impossible places and it is difficult to respond! I think we learn things from the race and look forward to Australia when we can make changes to the bike we learnt about here."

Alex Barros, West Honda Pons: 3rd: " This was really a tough race. I made a good start and I put myself in a good position to challenge for the lead. Regarding the incident with Valentino, this is all part of racing and I would have done the same as him. There's no point in dwelling on this matter. I made two mistakes which made me lose all the advantage I had built up over the first part of the race. During the final laps I could not overtake anyone because we were all very evenly-matched, but I should be very happy because this was only my second race with the Honda RC211V and I have made two podium finishes. I should be satisfied with this and I would like to thank all my team."

Tohru Ukawa, Repsol Honda Team: 4th: "That was a really hard race. The first good thing about was that my machine felt good. We started off the weekend badly and the team worked very hard to make the situation better. It paid off as during the race I really didn't have any major problems. I got a good start and then started fighting with Valentino and Kato so that Biaggi and Barros wouldn't get away. I had a few frights with the front end tucking under and the rear sliding; the ground temperature was so high. With three laps to go I nearly high-sided and Barros comes past so I lose the podium. I can't complain. It was a good race and I tried as hard as I can."

Daijiro Kato, Fortuna Honda Gresini, 5th: "I made a little mistake and I lost contact with the leading group. This happened because I had a front end problem: the front didn't have the perfect setting, and the front end turned in at one corner. Now I have to think about Phillip Island and find a victory, this fifth place is not my maximum performance."

Fausto Gresini: "The race was conditioned by Kato running straight on at one corner, but it is not a big problem. His pace was a little slower than the leading riders. Maybe the whiplash he suffered during practice gave him problems with mobility. Anyway this is a good place, after three unlucky races. In this way the team can improve Kato's feeling with the bike."

Loris Capirossi, West Honda Pons: 9th: "I am a professional and I go out on the track to win and not just to make up the numbers. I do my work as well as I can, but it is very frustrating when you are a winning rider and you finish 27 seconds behind the winner. Everything is down to a technical problem, as it is demonstrated by the fact that I finished 27 seconds off the pace, but my total race time was 17 seconds faster than the winning time last season. Obviously, I tried my best, but the technical conditions of this circuit make it the worst of the season for the two-strokes with the four-strokes."

Sito Pons: "I am happy with Barros' second consecutive podium finish. This was Alex's second race with the four-stroke bike and he is at the same level as the other riders and this means that both Alex and the team have done extremely well. It is a shame he made an error midway throughout the race and lost all the advantage that he had. As far as Loris's performance is concerned, I completely understand his frustration because this is the hardest circuit for the two-strokes and despite this is still finished close to Checa, Nakano and Roberts."

Jurgen van den Goorbergh: Kanemoto Racing: 13th "I got quite a bad start and had to fight it out with Aoki, McWilliams, and Laconi, and found myself hanging on to the back of them. I ran 2.06s in qualifying and a 2.07s dead in the race. Near the end of the race Aoki had a failure of some kind in the middle of a corner. I was right behind him and that almost stopped me to, that allowed the others got away and I could not catch them again."

"We are getting better on tyre compounds and that shows in the overall lap times. My race time today would have given me second place in the race last year. In general the weekend was good for us, but for my start, the Bridgestone tyres performed really well. Our main problem is that, when we arrive at a track we have to spend a lot of time sorting through many tyres to find out which combination is going to perform best. That takes up costly time."

Team owner - manager Erv Kanemoto: "I felt we could have run better than 13th in the race today. I guess all I can say on the positive side is that we came here expecting the high temperatures to hurt us but the tyres performed well all weekend on the extreme track top temperatures we had. After qualifying 10th we should have finished better. Jurgen got a bad start and couldn't recover from 17th at the end of the first lap."