Rossi wins third world title after victory on Malaysia GP

Rossi wins third world title after victory on Malaysia GP

Abdul Rahman, Reuters, Sepang, Malaysia

Italian Valentino Rossi won his third consecutive world title in style on Sunday with victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Honda rider, who won the final 500cc championship in 2001 and the inaugural MotoGP championship last year, started from pole and, despite a slow start, his victory in 43 minutes 41.457 seconds was never really in doubt.

Spain's Sete Gibernau, the only rider who had any real chance of catching Rossi in the title race, was second on Sunday ahead of Rossi's compatriot and arch-rival Max Biaggi.

"I'm very, very happy," said Rossi, whose 57th grand prix win gave him a fifth world title as he took the 125cc title in 1997 and the 250cc crown in 1999. "It was a good fight throughout the year, winning some and losing some."

"We were quite consistent and so we were able to finish first."

Rossi's seventh victory of the season took him to 307 points, while Gibernau had 244 with only 50 points up for grabs in the two races remaining in the season. Biaggi was on 215 points in third place. All three were on Honda bikes.

Last year Rossi ran away with the title, winning seven races and wrapping it all up with four rounds to spare, and the fact that this season was not quite as cut and dried was in the main down to Gibernau.

"The whole season we have tried to push Valentino as hard as we could," said Gibernau, who has won four races and finished second four times this season. "It has been a great season and congratulations to Valentino as he is the strongest guy in the championship."

Even though he started on pole, Rossi was patient on the opening lap and allowed Gibernau, Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi to dictate the early pace as he slipped down to fourth.

But it was only a matter of time before the irrepressible Rossi moved up to second on the second lap to close the gap on Gibernau before making a successful move to overtake five laps later.

Gibernau had a solitary race for second place with Biaggi forcing his way past Checa in the early stages to claim his third podium finish in the last four races.

American Nicky Hayden had an impressive second half of the race, getting past the Yamaha of Spain's Checa and Ducati of Italian Loris Capirossi to claim fourth place and more points for Honda, who had already wrapped up the manufacturer's title.

Gibernau, 31, said he would not be easing off now the title had been decided and would be racing hard in the final two rounds at Phillip Island, Australian and Valencia.

"There are two races to go and I will be trying to beat Valentino again," he said.