Malaysia, first venue of the final fight for the 2006 world title.
Nicky Hayden arrives in Sepang leading the standings with an advantage of 25 points over team mate Dani Pedrosa, who is second. Bradley Smith will not be able to race in Malaysia; the team will not be having a substitute for the young Repsol rider, waiting for his comeback in Australia.
Malaysia, Australia and Japan are the next destinations of the 2006 Motorcycling World Championship, that will be facing a dizzy final straight with three consecutive flyaway races in this intense month of September in order to continue moving towards the final point in October on the Iberian Peninsula with the races in Portugal and Valencia, saying good bye to the 2006 season. With 125 points still at stake, the differences in the overall standings of the MotoGP class among the leading actors of the fight for the world crown are close to nothing, except in the case of the leader.
Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden will face this final straight with an advantage of 25 points over the second classified rider, team mate Pedrosa, and 38 over the current World Champion, Italian rider Valentino Rossi. The fourth position in the overall standings is held by Marco Melandri, 40 points behind Hayden, while 10 points behind on fifth is Ducati rider Loris Capirossi. Last year Nicky Hayden managed to take the fourth place in the Malaysian Grand Prix, a race that was won by Loris Capirossi, with Valentino Rossi second and Marco Melandri fifth. Dani Pedrosa, who was racing in the 250cc class crashed on the first lap of the race and didn’t manage to score.
In the 250cc, Shuhei Aoyama is getting step by step closer to his big day, the day in which he will be racing in front of his fans at the Japanese Grand Prix. But before, young Shuhei will have to make two firm steps in his learning process: Malaysia and the difficult Australian layout on Phillip Island. After his average result in Brno sixth Shuhei is facing each race of this end of the season as if it would be the decisive race. If the aim in Brno was finishing the race, he will now be focussing on the podium of these remaining races.
Team mate Martín Cárdenas, seventh at the race in the Czech Republic, made a good start but lost positions as the race went by. In Malaysia, a track where he managed to finish fifteenth last year, he will be trying to finish among the top ten this time. The absence of Repsol rider Bradley Smith has been confirmed for the 125cc, since he is still recovering from the injuries suffered during the second qualifying session of the Czech Grand Prix. Fifteen minutes before the end of the session, young Bradley Smith was thrown off the bike, fracturing the radius of his left arm. Smith will miss the race in Malaysia and hopes to be recovered for Australia. The team has decided not to replace the British rider for the race waiting to get back into action on Phillip Island with his recovered rider.
Rider´s comments:
Nicky Hayden:
Im looking forward to these three back-to-back races because its a fun period of the season. Theres a lot of travelling and a lot of work to do but once you get to that side of the world theres a completely different atmosphere. Normally the flyaway races are pretty good to me and weve got to bounce back after the bad luck at Brno. We could have had another good finish there so we need to fight back and get a good result in Malaysia. Sepang is a track we know well from testing and I like it ok – in fact there a few tracks coming up that I like. Ill pretty well approach these races like I have all year. Ill try to be smart and consistent and fight for the best result each weekend. I believe in myself and Ive got good guys around me in this team. So Im looking forward to it and Im going to try to enjoy it.
Dani Pedrosa:
Weve already tested at Sepang and Ive done many laps and this will give us a better starting point for the weekend. It means I will have the feeling for the bike and set-up much quicker than when I go to a new race track. I think Capirossi will be very strong here it was a good track for him last year and also Hayden, Rossi and Melandri will be up there. I like the track well enough and the layout combines all types of sections, although I wouldnt say it was one of my favourites. The heat and humidity at Sepang are really high and this is something you have to take into account. Its not really a problem though, because you expect it and can prepare for it. I had a good race at Brno and the championship position is not so bad so I hope I can keep the momentum going here.
Shuhei Aoyama:
Ive never been to Malaysia before, but I think that it may be as difficult as the circuit in Brno. Ive been covering thousands of laps at the circuit with the Playstation and Ive also been watching videos from previous races so well have to wait and see what we can do here once the race weekend starts.
Martín Cárdenas:
Last year I liked the Malaysia circuit a lot. I made a good race, so I hope that things will work out well this year too. After the result of the last race in Brno where the aim was finishing the race and I finally achieved a good result seventh y obviously arrive in Malaysia in high spirits and with confidence to make a good race.
The venue of the GP:
Sepang circuit Located around 60 kms from Kuala Lumpur, the modern Sepang circuit is one of the best of the world and also one of the most demanding. Built in 1998 as part of an enormous complex, which also houses a hotel, a golf course, a shopping centre and other sports facilities, the Sepang circuit was built in less than fourteen months and its facilities comply with the highest international standards. Sepang hosted its first Grand Prix in 1999 and its been since then part of the World Championship calendar. With five slow left-hand corners and ten right- hand corners, the 5548 m track includes also a subtle chicane allowing to reach very high speeds. Its eight straights, the longest having a total of 927 m, are particularly favourable to overtaking manoeuvres, thus guaranteeing a great show. The Sepang circuit has a capacity for up to 100,000 spectators, and the double grandstand on the two longest straights of the track allows following the riders evolution on the track. Races on the Sepang circuit, with one of the longest layouts of the championship, are usually held under intense heat and high humidity, usual weather conditions in October, adding extra difficulty to the event.
Official website: http://www.malaysiangp.com
