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by Jimmy Martin, 19th October 2008
 Valentino Rossi won his ninth MotoGP race of the season at Sepang, Malaysia. Dani Pedrosa was second while Andrea Dovizioso finished third for his debut visit to the MotoGP podium.
The qualifying session had been an amazing spectacle, with the track starting out wet but becoming fully dry by the final few minutes. This resulted in a mad dash for pole position in the last moments of the session, with Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa snatching top spot ahead of FIAT Yamaha team-mates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. Casey Stoner could only manage seventh position on the grid after failing to exit the pits in time for his last run.
Pedrosa made his usual rocket ship start to the race, pulling out several bike lengths by the end of the start/finish straight. Scot Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso battled through to second place by the time the field had passed through the first right-left complex, just ahead of Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden on the second Repsol Honda, and Casey Stoner on the Ducati. Rossi was immediately all over the back of Dovizioso's silver bike, but the younger Italian was in the mood for a good result. The Doctor passed his countryman in the final hairpin, but ran wide, and Dovi grabbed the place back. However, Rossi's Yamaha eased past the underpowered satellite Honda machine down the start/finish straight to take second place and set off after Pedrosa's quicker factory Honda.
Casey Stoner was now battling to overtake Nicky Hayden for fourth place. The Kentucky Kid was already sliding his Repsol Honda, but Stoner was unable to use the Ducati's top speed to pass the American. The Australian (soon to be) ex-champion was not looking like his usual self, and had admitted that he had not found a good setup for his Bologna Bullet.
Englishman James Toseland only lasted four laps before lowsiding out of the race unhurt, blaming a hard compound tyre which he was struggling to bring up to temperature. Alice Ducati rider Toni Elias was given a jump start penalty.
At the front, Pedrosa was not breaking away from Rossi. The miniature matador's lightly loaded Honda was firing out of the corners and leaping onto the straights, but Rossi's tightly turning Yamaha was clearly faster through the swooping corners at the back of the Sepang track. The eight-times world champion was trying very hard, as evidenced by his left foot flapping in the breeze under heavy braking; the usual sign that Rossi is in a determined mood.
Dovizioso in third place was being dropped off behind the leading pair, and had Hayden, Stoner and Nakano breathing down his neck. The battling Dovizioso and Hayden alternately pulled away from and dropped back towards Stoner, while Nakano was now harrying the Australian. Behind them, Jorge Lorenzo was leading Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards and Rizla Suzuki veteran Loris Capirossi in line astern formation.
At half distance, Rossi finally stole the lead from Pedrosa, outbraking him at the back hairpin, the Italian's flapping left foot almost dragging on the ground. Moments later, Jorge Lorenzo fell from sixth place at the first corner, sliding off the lowside as he tried to catch Casey Stoner. The Spaniard was able to remount, but had to trundle back to the pits and retire, probably relieved about leaving the sweltering conditions and returning to his cool, air conditioned garage.
 Rossi now proceeded to increase his lead by a couple of tenths per lap, Pedrosa being unable to maintain that pace. The real fight was now a few seconds back down the road, where Dovizioso, Hayden, Stoner and Nakano were still travelling in a four bike freight train. Behind them, Capirossi sailed past Edwards for seventh place.
With seven laps to go, marshals started waving the white flags to show that there were spots of rain, and riders could come in and change to bikes with rain tyres if need be. Fortunately, the rain never appeared, and neither did the bike changes.
Casey Stoner suddenly seemed to lose pace, dropping back behind Nakano's Gresini Honda. The Aussie later revealed that his injured left hand had gone completely numb, and his right hand, having to work harder to compensate, started to cramp, so Stoner could barely hold the throttle wide open on the straights. Hayden and Dovizioso started scrapping for the final podium spot, swapping positions back and forth. Shinya Nakano was close behind, waiting for his opportunity.
Valentino Rossi took the chequered flag for win number nine of the year, while Dani Pedrosa took his best result since switching to Bridgestone tyres with second place. Andrea Dovizioso's team went wild when the young Italian took his first MotoGP podium, incredibly beating Nicky Hayden's factory Honda across the line on his wheezing, steel-sprung satellite bike. Shinya Nakano took a very respectable fifth place, while the ailing Stoner had to settle for sixth.
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| Race Results |
| Rider |
|
Team |
Time |
| 1. Valentino Rossi |
ITA |
Fiat Yamaha |
43m 06.007s |
| 2. Dani Pedrosa |
SPA |
Repsol Honda |
43m 10.015s |
| 3. Andrea Dovizioso |
ITA |
JiR Team Scot |
43m 14.543s |
| 4. Nicky Hayden |
USA |
Repsol Honda |
43m 14.865s |
| 5. Shinya Nakano |
JPN |
Honda Gresini |
43m 16.590s |
| 6. Casey Stoner |
AUS |
Ducati Marlboro |
43m 19.647s |
| 7. Loris Capirossi |
ITA |
Rizla Suzuki |
43m 21.943s |
| 8. Colin Edwards |
USA |
Tech 3 Yamaha |
43m 24.809s |
| 9. Chris Vermeulen |
AUS |
Rizla Suzuki |
43m 29.181s |
| 10. Randy de Puniet |
FRA |
LCR Honda |
43m 31.523s |
|
Rider Championship Standings |
| Rider |
|
Team |
Points |
| 1. Valentino Rossi |
ITA |
Fiat Yamaha |
357 |
| 2. Casey Stoner |
AUS |
Ducati Marlboro |
255 |
| 3. Dani Pedrosa |
SPA |
Repsol Honda |
229 |
| 4. Jorge Lorenzo |
SPA |
Fiat Yamaha |
182 |
| 5. Andrea Dovizioso |
ITA |
JiR Team Scot |
161 |
| 6. Nicky Hayden |
USA |
Repsol Honda |
144 |
| 7. Colin Edwards |
USA |
Tech 3 Yamaha |
134 |
| 8. Chris Vermeulen |
AUS |
Rizla Suzuki |
125 |
| 9. Shinya Nakano |
JPN |
Honda Gresini |
117 |
| 10. Loris Capirossi |
ITA |
Rizla Suzuki |
111 |
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