 1 Sepang International Circuit |
 2 Grid positions were Pedrosa, Rossi and Lorenzo. The big story of this race was the intense heat: 42° air temperature and 48° track temperature. The race was a test of rider fitness more so than at most of the other GPs. Pedrosa got his usual blinding start. |
 3 At turn 1 Pedrosa had a clear lead, Dovizioso had moved into second while Rossi dropped to third with Hayden in fourth. Casey Stoner who had started in seventh got a great start and arrived at the first corner in fifth position, a position he held until near the end of the race. |
 4 After Rossi disposed of Dovizioso during lap 2, he set off after Pedrosa and followed him while the laps counted down. The pair opened a lead over Dovizioso in third that grew with every lap. |
 5 On lap 11, with eleven laps to go, Rossi went past Pedrosa at the turn 9 hairpin (the turn visible from the back straight grandstand). Lorenzo crashed shortly after for yet another DNF. Until now, he'd had a mathematical chance of taking third from Pedrosa but the crash put paid to his chances. The gap back to third at this point was 5.6 seconds. |
 6 Casey qualified seventh and finished in sixth. He was battling with his scaphoid bone injury and he said after the race that his hand was numb and that he couldn't feel a thing; he essentially rode one handed. His sixth placing was good enough to give him second place in the championship with an unbeatable lead over Pedrosa of 26 points. |
 7 Rossi won by 4 seconds in another boring, processional race. There was a bit of a tussle late in the race between Dovizioso and Hayden but that was it. This high tech, state of the art complex, built for Formula 1 cars produces boring motorcycle racing. Even the 250 race was a procession. |
 8 Results were Rossi 1, Pedrosa 2 and Dovizioso 3. Rossi's lead over Stoner was now 101 points. A significant fact about this excellent photo is that I took it. |
 9 Yup. Jenni and I were there. My memories of the day were oppressive heat, processional racing in all three classes and that Valentino Rossi is still the one. |
 10 Kropotkin's Sepang report |
