Head to head at the island

Fresh from a final-lap shootout at Sepang last Sunday, Valentino Rossi will naturally start favourite.

He has not been beaten at the sea-side track since 2000, his first year on a 500cc bike, when he finished 0.29sec behind winner Max Biaggi.

But the man he beat after an elbow-to-elbow fight that lasted for most of the Malaysian race could be the biggest threat to Rossi taking his sixth consecutive Phillip Island victory.

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At 33, Loris Capirossi might be old by MotoGP standards, but he is riding better than ever on his super-fast Ducati.

The Italian blitzed the field at the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno last month and came close to beating Rossi in a classic duel at Sepang.

Capirossi has little chance of winning the world championship and will be going flat-out for wins.

"I know the bike and tyres are good and I know I am strong enough to fight with Valentino," he said.

"I'm not thinking about the championship, I will just do my best and then we'll count the points. I am really looking forward to Phillip Island."

Rossi may have won the Sepang battle, but he said he would have been happy coming second because he enjoyed the dicing so much.

"It was another legendary battle between myself and Loris, very hard but also very fair," Rossi says.

"I enjoy racing with him so much because there is a lot of respect between us and a great trust. He is probably the hardest rival I have ever had but also one of my best friends in the paddock."

Rossi needs to beat Capirossi and everyone else at Phillip Island to give himself a real chance of winning the world championship.

The Italian is 26 points behind Honda's Nicky Hayden and four points behind Hayden's teammate Dani Pedrosa with four rounds left.

Pedrosa finished third in Malaysia and Hayden fourth.

Rossi knows both are going to be competitive at all the tracks and knows exactly what he needs to do. "All I can do is keep winning races so that is what I will try to do."

Pedrosa fought hard in Malaysia, riding with the help of a painkilling injection after he gouged his knee in a crash in Friday practice.

Many people in pitlane didn't expect him to finish the race, let alone make it on to the podium. Pedrosa, who struggled to stand on the podium, revealed after the race that he wasn't sure whether or not he would race.

"The big decision . . . was whether or not I would race, and until the last moment I was still in doubt about it," he says.

"We chose to race and they gave me one injection to take away the pain. Though I felt the stitches pressing under my leathers, the pain on my knee was gone."

Hayden is frank about his run at Sepang, explaining that he simply wasn't fast enough.

But the American vows to fight back at Phillip Island to keep his championship lead.

"We're definitely still in it, and we'll keep working hard," Hayden says.

Casey Stoner finished eighth at Sepang after fading with exhaustion and back pain, and Chris Vermeulen ended up 11th.

Practice starts at Phillip Island today, practice and qualifying will be held tomorrow and 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP races fire up on Sunday.

Adult ticket prices start from $35 today, $59 tomorrow and $77 for Sunday.

You can buy tickets at the gate or www.ticketmaster.com.au

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Nicky Hayden 214

Dani Pedrosa 192

Valentino Rossi 188

Loris Capirossi 171