22006 MotoGP Championship - Round 13 - Sepang, Malaysia - September 8/9/10

MotoGP Race - By, Trevor Hedge

Ducati headed into 13th round of the MotoGP World Championship with renewed enthusiasm. Loris Capirossi proved at Brno that he was over his injuries with his total and complete domination of MotoGP proceedings in the Czech Republic. And Sete Gibernau was back in the hot seat after sitting on the sidelines recovering from the injuries he also sustained at Catalunya earlier in the season.

The Malaysian circuit had been kind to Ducati on previous occasions. Sepang last year was the scene of Ducati’s best ever weekend in MotoGP when Capirossi took victory ahead of Valentino Rossi and fellow Ducati rider Carlos Checa, marking the first time in history that two Ducati men had graced the MotoGP podium.

Capirossi’s recent return to form came after a costly period of recuperation from injury but it has promoted him firmly back into contention for the title. The Italian veteran arrived at Sepang only 50 points adrift of series leader Nicky Hayden, and was only half that margin behind second placed Dani Pedrosa. And Ducati had good reason to be confident in Malaysia, Sepang is a track that suits both Ducati, and the Bridgestone tyres it is shod with.

While Capirossi headed to Sepang after his best weekend of the year at Brno, championship leader Nicky Hayden arrived in Sepang after his most disappointing performance of the year. Hayden had a good record at Sepang however with a trio of fourth places finishes under his belt in previous years at the Malaysian circuit and the American set a new race lap record at the 5.54 kilometre track last year.

The indomitable Valentino Rossi was on a roll after experiencing some unlucky twists of fate earlier in the season that saw him take no points from China, France and America. Rossi had finished on the podium at Sepang for the last five years, including a memorable victory for Yamaha in 2004 and a title-clinching second place behind Loris Capirossi (Ducati) last season. A podium finish at Sepang this time around would see the 27 year old Italian Superstar equal Giacomo Agostini’s record of 88 podium finishes in the premier class, a tally bettered only by Mick Doohan.

The single most important factor in any performance at Sepang would always come down to rubber. If Bridgestone came up with the goods for the unique combination that the Sepang circuit presents, combined with the likelihood of track temperatures approaching 60 degrees Celsius, then the Michelin men would be racing for points rather than a race win.

A torrential downpour had drenched the circuit before the qualifying session was due to get underway on Saturday afternoon. The ferocity of the storm was such that it forced organisers to take the unprecedented step of cancelling the qualifying session and choosing to declare the grid on the basis of combined times from the three practice session. Rossi had tried a soft tyre in Saturday morning practice which helped him to the top of the timesheets and thus the reigning world champion was awarded pole position ahead of 2006 championship leader Nicky Hayden. Loris Capirossi rounded out the front row while Kenny Roberts headed the second row alongside Dani Pedrosa and Sete Gibernau. The big news of the weekend was Dani Pedrosa's massive highside in Friday practice that left the diminutive Spaniard with a massive gash in his leg and bruises all over his body. He struggled to circulate on Saturday morning and his team doubted that he would be fit enough to last the race distance but of course everyone should know how tough Pedrosa he is. That terrible crash at Phillip Island only a couple of years ago saw him taken from the Island in a helicopter with two broken ankles. He was back on the bike testing only a couple of months later which was a clear testament that the little fella had a big heart.

Come Sunday conditions were fine and it was Valentino Rossi who scored the holeshot and took an early lead. The first lap also saw both Kawasaki men meet their demise with Nakano ending up in the gravel trap and De Puniet returning to the pits with problems before later rejoining the race well down the order. The injured Dani Pedrosa was a strong early second place ahead of Loris Capirossi and Nicky Hayden.

Late on lap two Capirossi got the better of Pedrosa and Hayden also started looking for a way past his younger team-mate. Rossi had managed to build a small lead and Capirossi was very keen to make up that ground as soon as possible and prevent the Yamaha man from getting away.

Capirossi managed exactly that to take the lead late on lap three and he seemed to do it almost easily. At first he looked as though he might pull away from Rossi but the reigning World Champion upped his pace to match his countryman. Sete Gibernau was riding well in his return to competition to hold down fifth place ahead of Casey Stoner, Marco Melandri, Toni Elias, Kenny Roberts and John Hopkins rounded out the top ten after five laps.

Rossi continued to sit on the tail of Capirossi and Dani Pedrosa was proving just how tough he is by staying ahead of his Repsol Honda team-mate in a strong third position.

Casey Stoner got the better of Sete Gibernau early on lap seven to move up to fifth place but that group were already quite some distance behind the leading quartet.

Rossi then went through to the lead and Pedrosa moved up onto the tail of Capirossi. The leading quartet were covered by only 1.1 seconds and Casey Stoner was only a single second further behind. Pedrosa then moved up to second place but his tussle with Capirossi allowed Rossi to build a small buffer, only just over half a second but still a significant margin.

Rossi got down to a 2m02.58 on lap eight and Capirossi moved back up to second place after putting in a 2m02.41 which shuffled Dani Pedrosa down to third place after putting in a 2m02.772. The leading trio had started to sneak away from Hayden and Stoner was now only 7-tenths of a second behind the championship leader and was bringing Sete Gibernau with him.

Stoner started to threaten Hayden on lap nine, the men in the 2-minute-02 second bracket on that lap were Rossi, Capirossi and Stoner. Kenny Roberts was also getting more comfortable as the laps progressed and put in a 2m02.75 to pull away from Hopkins to strengthen his seventh place and inched a little closer to Gibernau.

Capirossi then started to eat into the lead of Rossi. Lap 10 saw him narrow the gap down to only 3-tenths and looked set to make a move at any moment. Pedrosa was just over a second further behind in third place with more than a second advantage over Hayden. Toni Elias tumbled off into the gravel trap on lap 10 which promoted Colin Edwards into the top ten.

Nicky Hayden responded to Stoner's challenge to also drop into the 2m02 second bracket to extend his advantage over the young Australian out to just over half a second as the race entered its second half.

Sete Gibernau moved past Stoner for fifth on lap 11. Hayden's fourth place was starting to look a little safer as the race wore on but he would need to find some time if he was to knock his team-mate Dani Pedrosa off the podium.

Kenny Roberts and John Hopkins were having an entertaining tussle over seventh place, that battle unfolding a little over two seconds behind sixth placed Stoner. Sete Gibernau had started to pull a little ground back on Hayden but the American was managing to get that time back again to maintain an advantage of just over a second on the Spaniard. Of course the other Spaniard of concern to Hayden was his teammate Dani Pedrosa who was 1.2 seconds in front of him with seven laps to run.

Hopkins managed to get away from Roberts on lap 15 and started to edge a little close to Stoner. Up front it was still Capirossi right on the tail cowling of Rossi's Yamaha with the pair circulating in tight formation.

Capirossi took the lead on lap 15 but then ran wide and allowed the reigning world champion back through. Loris has another go half a lap later but again Rossi had the better exit and took the lead right back. Nicky Hayden was the quickest man on that 15th lap to edge a little closer to Pedrosa but on the next lap Pedrosa took that ground right back to stretch the gap back out to 1.5 seconds.

Capirossi went underneath Rossi at turn one on lap 17 to again take the lead and again he ran it wide and allowed Rossi through. The pair swapped places again a few corners later and this time Capirossi actually managed to maintain the advantage down the next short straight to this time take the lead proper. Their little tussle was allowing Pedrosa to edge a little closer and by lap 18 the young Spaniard was only 1.5 seconds behind the leaders.

Capirossi and the Ducati seemed to have a small advantage over the Yamaha man on some sections of the circuit but then at other points Rossi looked much stronger than Capirossi and the pair continued to run virtually nose to tail with neither being able to break away.

With four laps to run Capirossi finally managed to gain a couple of bike lengths on Rossi. Pedrosa was not managing to eat into lead enjoyed by the Italian duo. John Hopkins was having a strong ride and took sixth place from Casey Stoner and Kenny Roberts decided to join the party and turn that battle for sixth place into a 3-way affair.

Rossi hit the front again with three laps to run and maintained the advantage for half a lap before Capirossi hit the lead again and the two swapped places yet again at the following corner. Rossi went underneath into the tight double right but Loris had the inside line for the next apex and went straight back into the lead.

Rossi stood it up early on to the main straight and got great drive but the top end of the Ducati came into play and allowed Capirossi to still maintain the advantage into the next section of the circuit and then down the main straight to start the final lap with an advantage of 6-tenths of a second over the world champion. Rossi closed to within striking distance quickly on the last lap and forced his way inside Loris and held the Ducati man a little wide into one of the right left handers and that did trip up Loris a little and allowed Rossi to gain a couple of bike lengths over his countryman. Rossi then went into the penultimate corner a little deep and Capirossi seemed to get drawn into the same mistake but while Rossi managed to stay mainly on line Loris ran very wide and that cost him any chance on the run to the line.

Rossi the winner by 8-tenths of a second over Capirossi and Dani Pedrosa bravely rode home to a podium. His team thought that perhaps he wouldn't even be able to finish the race due to the extent of the injuries he sustained in practice but that podium could be crucial in the fight for the title. Pedrosa's third place puts him 3 points closer to Hayden, the gap narrowed from 25 points down to 22 points. Rossi's win also of course moves him closer to the championship leader, Rossi now only 26 points behind Hayden and four points behind Pedrosa.

The battle recommences next weekend at Phillip Island.