In sweltering, wilting heat, Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi won the Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the 5.548km, 15-turn Sepang International Circuit on Sunday by four seconds over Dani Pedrosa and first-time podium visitor Andrea Dovizioso.

Dani Pedrosa of the Repsol Honda team, who started the race on pole, led the first 10 laps of the 21-lap race, but when Rossi began to close in on him, he knew his race was run.

"When I was out front I realized Valentino was comfortable behind me and it seems he always saves something extra for the race over practice and when he passed me I was unable to go any faster," said Pedrosa. For the next 11 laps, the Italian put the hammer down and simply cleared out.

"I took a gamble in February when I promised to win the race so today I had to win," mused Rossi afterwards. "I love winning here because it's such a great track but today was really a test, especially the last five laps when I really had to make an effort to keep my concentration in such incredible heat. It was a very hard race and I tried to pass Dani many times before I understood where to make my move and pull away."

Placing a popular third was Andrea Dovizioso, the rookie rider beating back the advances of former World Champion Nicky Hayden to claim the spot by an eye blink margin of 0.3s.

Dovizioso moves to the HRC factory team next year as Hayden's replacement and his hard work through a difficult rookie season has finally paid off.

"Today I am happy! The first podium in MotoGP, after so much work in a season full of satisfaction,” smiled Dovizioso. “This is important for me and for my team. Dani and Valentino were ahead so I had no references in front and I felt the approach of Nicky's Honda going into every turn. I could not afford to make the slightest mistake and finally realized my podium finish."

Hayden commented of the back-and-forth duel he and Dovizioso staged.

"Andrea's a good dude to race with, he races clean but he races hard and he's a fighter," Hayden remarked. "I couldn't say I handed him his first podium -- he earned it, he rode hard. I put some heat on him and sometimes the gap was down to plus zero and there wasn't a lot of room. It was a fun race."

Shinya Nakano placed fifth in Malaysia and a physically worked over Casey Stoner was sixth.

"It was just physical today,” reasoned Stoner, his wrist in dire need of surgery. “There's no pain in my left wrist, but there's no power in my left arm either," Stoner said. "It's been very difficult and my right arm has to do all the work. I had no energy left and I got tired very quickly. It was just a matter of staying in there as long as I could, surviving as long as I could and seeing what happened at the end of the race."

Texan Colin Edwards placed eighth overall.

"I'm a little disappointed even though it was my best result here," Edwards said. "It was so hot the balance of the bike changed and once the rear grip goes down it stops transferring weight to the front and its hard to turn the bike.

Anglo-Amerian John Hopkins was 11th when the checkered flag was dropped, he and his Kawasaki ZX-RR just missing out on the top 10.

Eric Johnson