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20th September,
Sepang - In a swift cross-continent turnaround
after the thrilling race at Estoril,
MotoGP heads to the Far-East for the
A-Style Grand Prix of Japan this weekend.
The race will have big implications for
the 2007 MotoGP title race, with two
possible scenarios that will decide when
or whether Casey Stoner can be crowned
with his first MotoGP World Championship.
With a 76-point gap separating current
standings leader Stoner and nearest rival
Valentino Rossi, either the factory Ducati
rider will leave Japan with the title in
the bag or the chase will be prolonged
until his home race at Australia. Stoner
simply has to finish ahead of the
five-time MotoGP World Champion in what is
sure to be a tough race for the 21
year-old.
Rossi is still very much capable of
beating Stoner in a straight fight, having
done so at the last round in Estoril. The
Yamaha rider will not be conceding defeat
on the track any time soon, and has set
himself the target of ending the season
with more than his current tally of four
victories. He also has to fend off Dani
Pedrosa to consolidate second place in the
standings, currently leading the Spaniard
by 23 points.
A second place finish for Pedrosa in
Estoril gave him room to breathe in third
overall, with a gap of over 30 points
separating himself and the tightly packed
group consisting of John Hopkins, Chris
Vermeulen and Marco Melandri. Further
down, Colin Edwards, last year's race
winner in Japan Loris Capirossi and
reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden also
occupy spots in a top ten completed by
Alex Barros.
Two wild card riders will be participating
in the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan, under
the Suzuki and Kawasaki banners
respectively. Paul Denning's boys in blue
will be joined by test rider Nobuatsu Aoki
at the race, whilst Kawasaki will run one
of their original riders from their MotoGP
return, Akira Yanagawa, in his first
premier class race since 2003.
Last year's race was won by Loris
Capirossi in a runaway victory from pole,
ahead of his fellow Italians Valentino
Rossi and Marco Melandri.
Before the on-track action gets underway
in Japan, a special event featuring some
of the biggest names in MotoGP will take
place in Tokyo. A huge attendance is
expected for the "MotoGP Lands in Tokyo"
event, which takes place on Wednesday in
Shinjuku Station Square. Valentino Rossi,
Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner, Shinya Nakano,
Chris Vermeulen, Colin Edwards, Makoto
Tamada, Carlos Checa and Randy de Puniet
are all
confirmed participants in an on-stage
talkshow and autograph session accompanied
by five 800cc machines. 250cc
Jorge Lorenzo still leads the way in
250cc, 51 points ahead of Andrea Dovizioso
as he looks to retain his quarter-litre
World Championship. The Spaniard has never
won a race at Japan, finishing third last
year in his most recent visit to Motegi.
He is rumoured to be staying on after the
race to test the 800cc Yamaha M1, in
anticipation of his move up to MotoGP next
season
Dovizioso will have to keep one eye on the
challenge to his second place from Alex de
Angelis, just nine points behind him in
the classification but on a run of poor
results after a near year-long spell
finishing no lower than fourth. The top
three are relatively clear from the
remainder of the field, with Estoril
racewinner Alvaro Bautista in fourth,
Hector Barbera in fifth and Hiroshi Aoyama
in sixth. Aoyama has won the last two
races at Motegi, breaking down in tears at
the end of the 2006 race due to the
emotion of his second home victory.
The gap between Gabor Talmacsi and Hector
Faubel at the top of the 125cc
classification stands at just five points,
with the team-mates both eyeing up the
World title. They battled right up to the
line in Portugal, with Faubel
slipstreaming his Hungarian team-mate to
take victory and earn an important
psychological victory.
Home-rider Tomoyoshi Koyama will be one of
the favourites for the win at Motegi
onboard the KTM machine, and the Japanese
rider currently lies third in the
classification. The remainder of the top
six consists of the level-on-points duo of
Simone Corsi and Lukas Pesek, and the
rider with more pole positions than any
other in 125cc this year, Mattia Pasini.
For the latest
news on MotoGP, visit
www.malaysiangp.com.my for more info
or contact Azhar Ghazali at 019-3837865
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