MotoGP 2005 - Round 13

After the dramatic Japanese Grand Prix last weekend that saw Max Biaggi claim his second consecutive podium finish and Nicky Hayden climb two places in the riders championship the Repsol Honda camp will hope to see the momentum of the latter part of the season continue.

With several key riders failing to finish the GP at Motegi, Biaggi now is 16 points clear in the fight for second place in the championship with Hayden climbing to fifth place in the standings just five points behind Honda-mounted Marco Melandri who failed to finish in Japan.

Biaggi is now mathematically the only rider capable of stopping Rossi claim the title this Sunday and will be doing all he can do to spoil the party. He’s a good record at the wide 5.548km track situated just outside the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. He won the race in 2002 and has never been off the podium since. The four-time world champion will be hoping to continue his recent run that has seen him amass 49 points in the last three races in a late season charge that sees him fighting hard to consolidate the runner-up slot in the championship.

His team-mate Hayden will see the GP this weekend as an opportunity to get back to the fine form he had in the summer that saw the 24-year-old win his first GP, take a another podium later in July and secure three front row starts – two of them pole positions. He’s finished his two previous GP’s in the sweltering heat of Malaysia in fourth place and will be unhappy with anything but a podium.

Both riders will be hoping to finish the season with a flourish. This weekend’s GP is sandwiched in the middle of the Japanese and Qatar GP that will be held Saturday week (October 1st). With 125 points and five GP’s remaining this year there is still a lot to play for before the final GP at Valencia, Spain (November 6th).

Max Biaggi
“I’m looking forward to the next race. I finished third in Brno and second at Motegi. It would be so good to go one better in Malaysia and win the race there! Racing at Sepang is fantastic. They have warm weather throughout the year, first class organisation and infrastructures. All the grandstands are covered; they are a wonderful work of modern architecture. The track is very fast and is both physically and technically hard work. The spectators are fantastic as well, because they come from all over Asia. That's what I'd call a Continental Grand Prix. Our Michelin’s worked so well in Japan, I hoped they can do even better in Malaysia. As I said after the race last week I would very much like to avenge the Bridgestone victory last week and will do all I can to make this happen. Some of my Japanese fan club guys will come down to see me in Sepang, that makes me feel very comfortable.”

Nicky Hayden
“I always say that when we have a bad race weekend all I want to do is to get back on the bike and I’m happy we go straight to Malaysia. We need to get on the pace fast – something that we just didn’t manage to do in Japan. I’m happy to have moved up in the championship but I know we only did this at the expense of the riders that didn’t finish. I've made many laps on this circuit because we've spent several days testing here I the past. It isn't an easy circuit because it's really long and wide. It was hard to get used to it at the beginning but, in general, I think that it's a good circuit because it has a bit of everything. The grip is very important because the track temperature increases a lot in the afternoon."

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