Third place in the season’s penultimate round at a rain-soaked Sepang in Malaysia on Sunday was enough to ensure Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) of his seventh MotoGP world championship and his ninth world title.

The Italian, probably the greatest motorcycle racer the world has even seen, has an unbeatable 41-point lead over Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo with one race and a maximum of 25 points remaining.  The Spaniard was fourth in Malaysia after starting from the back of the grid as a result of a penalty for failing to take his grid position on time.

Australian Casey Stoner, riding a Ducati, won the race, his second in a row in a successful comeback after missing three races due to a mysterious illness.  He took the lead from the second row of the grid on the opening lap ahead of Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and was in a class of his own on the day, finishing well ahead of the Spaniard.  He is third in the championship, 25 points behind Lorenzo.

Rossi, who started from pole position, ran wide into the first corner and was 10th at the end of the first lap.  He didn’t panic in the wet conditions and steadily made up places before taking a comfortable third place and the title.

In earlier races, Aprilia rider Julian Simon of Spain, who secured the title in Australia a week ago, won the 125 cc race.  Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) won the 250 cc race and holds a comfortable 21-point championship lead going into the final round.