
Jorge Lorenzo took the 2010 MotoGP Championship title, but it was once again Valentino Rossi who offered racing fans one of the best races so far at the Sepang circuit, winning his second race of the season and his 46th win with Yamaha.
Rossi was sixth on the starting grid and after a horrible start found himself 11th after the first lap with Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso running away followed by Casey Stoner, Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden. Stoner drops out of the fight at the end of lap 1 when he binned his Ducati, caught out by the usual ‘cold tire syndrome.’
Rossi began his charge up the field passing rider after rider and after four laps was on fourth place Marco Simoncelli and after disposing the Gresini rider and 1.5s from leaders Lorenzo and Dovizioso, the 9 times World Champion starting chewing away the advantage of the front runners.
Loris Capirossi had to pull out due to another technical difficulty on his Suzuki, while Aleix Espargaro lowsided his Pramac Ducati as did Colin Edwards with his M1 who was able to remount and finish 6 laps down, while Dovizioso passed Lorenzo on the eighth lap to take the lead with Rossi still on his charge to catch up, taking first Lorenzo and then Dovizioso and crossing under the chequered flag ahead of the Honda Repsol rider by 0.224s.
Ben Spies took fourth a distant fourth, Alvaro Bautista was fifth, followed by Nicky Hayden, Hiroshi Aoyama and Marco Simoncelli who gave us a thrilling battle for sixth place. Marco Melandri took 9th and Randy de Puniet closing out the top ten in a race that saw only 12 riders finish and get points.
MotoGP Sepang Race Results:
01- Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – 20laps in 41′03.448
02- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.224
03- Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 6.035
04- Ben Spies – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 13.676
05- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 15.402
06- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 18.826
07- Hiroshi Aoyama – Interwetten Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 20.218
08- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 23.574
09- Marco Melandri – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 23.964
10- Randy De Puniet – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 31.850
11- Hector Barbera – Paginas Amarillas Aspar – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 38.579
12- Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 38.849