Dani Pedrosa wins Malaysia MotoGP

SPAIN's Dani Pedrosa won in the shortened Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix last night, keeping his championship title chase alive.

Dani Pedrosa

SPAIN's Dani Pedrosa stormed to victory in the shortened Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix last night, keeping his championship title chase alive on a rain-soaked circuit with his sixth win of the year.

The Honda rider passed pole-sitter and Yamaha ace Jorge Lorenzo, the championship points leader, midway through a race that saw a raft of riders crash out.

Organisers put out the red flag on lap 13 of the 20-lap race due to the torrential rain.

It is Pedrosa's third straight race win since moving up to the MotoGP class. He won the race in 29 minutes 29.049 seconds with Lorenzo 3.774s behind.

Pedrosa's Australian teammate, Casey Stoner, recovering from an ankle injury, was third after starting from the second row. Stoner clocked in at 29:36.193.

With his first win in wet conditions, and battling for his first MotoGP crown, Pedrosa, who started second on the grid, narrowed the points gap with his countryman Lorenzo, on 321, to just 22. There are two more races left in the season, at Phillip Island and Valencia.

Lorenzo charged away from the pack at the start with hopes of winning for the first time in the MotoGP class at Sepang.

But as increasingly heavy rain began to hit the circuit, Pedrosa brilliantly picked up speed and caught his arch-rival.

"It is my first winning in the wet and I am very happy. I could get some rhythm and maintained a constant lap," he said.

Lorenzo said the red flag came out just as Pedrosa overtook him.

"I was struggling when heavy rain poured on the track. I am lucky to be second. It (the 20 points obtained for second place) is good for the championship title," he said.

Lorenzo has finished second on the past six occasions he has started from pole. The only race he won from pole this year was the season opener in Qatar.

Stoner, who has 230 points, missed three races this season after injuring his right ankle in qualifying at the Indianapolis Grand Prix. He returned last weekend at Motegi and plans to retire at the end of the season.

Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi, who has had a bad season for Ducati, finished fifth behind his American teammate Nicky Hayden.

Alex De Angelis won the Moto2 race at the rain-soaked circuit, with Australian Anthony West coming second in an action-packed event.

British rider Gino Rea, a successful supermoto rider, was third on a Suter.

Pouring rain cut the 19-lap event to 15l laps after an earlier heavy shower delayed the start.

German KTM rider Sandro Cortese won the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix to be crowned the inaugural Moto3 world champion.

AFP