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Valentino Rossi gained a crucial win in Sepang this weekend as he, Loris Capirossi and Dani Pedrosa continue to eat away at Nicky Hayden's lead at the top of the MotoGP table.

Starting in pole position, Rossi embarked upon a fascinating duel with previous Malaysian GP winner Capirossi, the two Italians breaking free of the rest and exchanging the lead several times coming up towards the end.

Despite having apparently made a fatal blunder, reigning champion Rossi then incredibly ground down Capirossi's 0.6 second lead going into the final lap and when final errors by both he and his compatriot cancelled out, Rossi rode his Yamaha to victory.

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The 27-year-old was gracious in victory, saying: "It was another legendary battle between myself and Loris - very hard but also very fair."

He added: "Myself and Loris are old style riders, very aggressive, however we are always very fair with each other. I played my cards well and although I won this time it could easily be Loris next time."

Rossi remains in second place but is now just 26 points behind Hayden, while Capirossi moved up to fourth and 43 behind and Dani Pedrosa also made it to the podium despite an injured knee to retain second spot in the overall standings.

The pressure is now on Hayden, who had increased his lead at the top to 34 points with victory in the American GP, but after two successive failures to make the podium is now seeing his advantage being whittled away going into the final four races of the season.

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