Rossi needs a fourth place, or higher, to garner enough points to put the title out of reach of his challengers. Max would have to win the remaining five races, with Rossi failing to finish, to outscore his bitter rival ­ but Rossi proved at Motegi that he is as fallible as any other rider when it comes to making costly mistakes. He ended his race, and that of Marco Melandri (Team Movistar Honda RC211V) when he clipped the Honda rider’s rear wheel, bringing them both down.

Max will need no encouragement to deny Rossi glory at Sepang, and after a lacklustre season so far, Max is getting closer to recording his first win of the season. Max was second here last year, but won here in 2002 and will be determined to notch a win here again on Sunday.

His team-mate Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) is another man who must build on his solitary career win so far, at his home race at Laguna Seca, USA this season. The young American currently lies fifth overall in the points table and needs a strong finish to the season.

Melandri led much of the Motegi race last weekend until he was involved in that crash with Rossi. The Italian Honda star will be keen to take back some ground in the World Championship standings here if he can. He lay second for much of the season and knows he will need a maiden career win to steal back some points from current runner-up Biaggi.

Sete Gibernau (Team Movistar Honda RC211V) could only finish seventh here last year and the Spanish man, who has been World Championship runner-up for the last two seasons will be anxious to end his season with a win after failing finish three of the last four races.

Alex Barros (Camel Honda RC211V), one of the few men to have won a race this season, triumphed in Portugal, and will be anxious to record another win in the twilight of his distinguished career. But he has never tasted success yet here at Sepang.

Shane Byrne, standing in for the injured Troy Bayliss (Camel Honda RC211V), has a golden opportunity to relaunch his stalled MotoGP career at Sepang, having been discarded when his previous employers (Team Roberts) announced they would not be completing the remaining races of the season after a dispute with their engine suppliers.

Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda RC211V) rode hard for his third place at Motegi and, as ever, the spirited Japanese rider will be going flat out to finish his season with a flourish after injury deprived him of much of his strength for the first half of the season.

Max Biaggi:
I’m looking forward to the next race. I finished third in Brno and second at Motegi. It would be so good to go one better in Malaysia and win the race here. The track is very fast and is both physically and technically hard work. The spectators are fantastic as well, because they come from all over Asia. That’s what I’d call a continental Grand Prix. Our Michelins worked so well in Japan ­ so much side grip it was fantastic.

Nicky Hayden:
I always say that when we have a bad race weekend all I want to do is to get back on the bike and I’m happy we’re going straight to Malaysia. We need to get on the pace fast ­ something that we just didn’t manage to do in Japan. I’ve made many laps on this circuit because we’ve spent several days testing here I the past. Grip is very important because the track temperature increases a lot in the afternoon.

Marco Melandri:
On Monday I flew to Kuala  Lumpur. Luckily the wound doesn’t hurt too much. This morning the doctor took out the small drainage system and told me that the wound is recovering correctly. According to him I can start walking on it a little bit. I’m feeling fine and I want to go steadily to start with and race on Sunday.

Sete Gibernau:
I hope that things will go better in Sepang, they can’t be any worse than they were in Japan. We are motivated as always to do well, but I don’t remember having such a bad season as this current one. I hope that this situation turns positively and I look forward to scoring my first win of the season.

Alex Barros:
Sepang is one of the most physically challenging circuits on the calendar. The heat and humidity are incredible for both the riders and the bike. Sometimes the engine gets so hot that it burns your hands and feet! Such extreme conditions are also a tough test for the tyres, as well as the engine and the suspension, but we had some really good tests here in pre-season and we already have a good base set-up to start from. I want to have a good race so that I can recover some points in the Championship.

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne:
To ride one of the Camel Honda team’s bikes is a massive opportunity which makes me very proud indeed, and I will give everything to show my true potential. I met up with the team on Tuesday in Sepang ­ a track I know quite well after having tested there a few times. I haven’t ever ridden in Qatar so I’ll have to try and get a good feel for  that track early on there.

Makoto Tamada:
Motegi was an improvement, but I still need to be at the front of the race, fighting for the win. I owe it to the team to do well here at Sepang and I will make every effort to bring a good result.