Rossi wins 7th title

Valentino Rossi has taken his seventh GP title after coming second to Loris Capirossi in the Malaysian GP.

Capirossi started from pole and lead for most of the race only slipping to second during the middle of the race when Rossi moved up from seventh to take the lead. But the Ducati rider fought back, re-took the lead and eventually finished with a considerable advantage.

Second Ducati rider Carlos Checa was the only other man to threaten Rossi, pushing him hard to the line and finishing just tenths of a second behind.

Marco Melandri set a phenomenal pace at the beginning of the race taking third position despite riding with a severly damaged ankle after his crash with Rossi in Motegi last week. His strength faded though and he eventually finished in fifth.

His team-mate Sete Gibernau saw all hop of placing well in the championship fade when he ran in to a corner too hot and lost the front, taking out Shinya Nakano in the process.

Nickey Hayden looked set to take third place but as the race went on he was finding it harder and harder to hold his line in the corners, eventually losing out to Checa to finish in fourth.

Shakey Byrne finished in 14th place on his first ride of the Camel Honda bike.

Finishing positions:

Capirossi

Rossi

Checa

Hayden

Melandri

Biaggi

Roberts

Barros

Hopkins

Edwards

Elias

Tamada

Rolfo

Byrne

Xaus

Battaini

DNF

Ellison

Jacque

Nakano

Gibernau