Today's qualifying practice at Sepang ended with Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet heading up the second row with his team mate, Anthony West right behind him on the grid for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix.

In the afternoon's nail-biting session, the Frenchman crashed out, rode his spare bike for much of the allocated hour, then rode home his hastily-repaired, primary Ninja ZX-RR to fourth place on the leader board in the very final moments. He clocked his best qualifying time of 2'02.107 with a top speed of 296.5kmh, just behind Marco Melandri who snatched the last place on the front row in the closing seconds by the tiniest margin of 0.163 seconds.

De Puniet began the day with another scorching free practice, which saw him coming second on the results sheets with a time of 2'02.534, just 0.243 behind Casey Stoner. Having notched up such consistently good lap times on race tyres throughout all sessions, de Puniet feels confident for tomorrow's 21-lap race.

The Malaysian Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the 2007 season, got off to a poor start for Fiat Yamaha Team riders Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi today, the pair finishing the day a lowly 14th and 16th in the standings. The combined time-sheets were topped by Randy de Puniet after a best lap of 2'02.917.

With the track having been completely resurfaced since pre-season testing the riders spent this morning's session getting a feel for the new surface, with Rossi and Edwards 7th and 15th fastest at the close of the hour. Rain at lunchtime meant this afternoon's session began on a wet track, with the asphalt drying steadily in patches throughout the practice. Rossi and Edwards worked hard on set-up and tyres but lacked grip throughout and neither rider was able to come up with a magic formula, leaving the team with work to do overnight if they are to be in a position to challenge during tomorrow's qualifying.

Fresh from the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, the Kawasaki Racing Team this week heads to Sepang for the penultimate round of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship.

Randy de Puniet enjoyed many a top ten finish at the Sepang International Circuit, near the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, in the years he rode in the 250cc world-level series and is looking forward to the battle this weekend. The 5.55km track will host Sunday's 21-lap race and the Frenchman will be aiming to improve on the 13th place he managed there last year which, considering his recent form, shouldn't be too much trouble.

Riding the 800cc Ninja ZX-RR, the 26-year-old has consistently shown himself to be among the fastest racers in the championship this year and he is feeling positive after a healthy sixth in Australia. His ongoing improvement as a rider, and increasing skill at developing the bike, make him ever more a man to contend with.

The Fiat Yamaha Team head straight from Australia to Malaysia this week as they contest the second Grand Prix in just seven days, with the penultimate race of the season set to take place at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur. Yamaha have been the most successful manufacturer in MotoGP at the ultra modern circuit, taking three victories from eight visits, and their strong record in Malaysia stretches back to the first ever race in the country back in 1991, when John Kocinski took 500cc honors at Shah Alam.

The most recent Malaysian Grand Prix was also won by Yamaha, with Valentino Rossi taking his fourth premier-class win at Sepang following a stunning battle with Loris Capirossi last season. Rossi is keen to repeat that performance this weekend as he aims to become the first MotoGP rider ever to score 100 career podiums in the class - his third place finish at Phillip Island last Sunday having taken his tally to an unsurpassed 99.

Gerald Delepine Wins Italian Supermoto Championship
The Belgian rider from Husqvarna Ch Racing Team got the final podium in the International Classification of the Italian SM Championship's round held yesterday on Castelletto di Branduzzo track.

Delepine closed on first position the second heat of the round, ahead of Davide Gozzini and Attilio Pignotti who will be his rivals in the last Supermoto GP in Athens. Gerald showed to be in perfect shape and ready to battle on the Greek track of Megara which will host the World Championship on Sunday 21st

Thomas Chareyre Wins the Penultimate French Supermoto Round
It has been a lucky week end for Husky riders:

The GP250, 250cc race was the domain of reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, who won from Alvaro Bautista (both Aprilia) with Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Honda RS250RW) third. Lorenzo was more than 19 seconds ahead of a gaggle of chasing riders fighting for the remaining podium places.

Julian Simon (Repsol Honda RS250RW) finished sixth and Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) eighth while Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda RS250RW) stole in the top ten in tenth.

Dovi said: "Lorenzo was impossible to catch, anyway I hoped to get second position, but instead Bautista beat me by a few thousandths of a second. I'm sorry because every earned point is important for us with two races to the end of the Championship.

Cal Crutchlow scored his first ever British Superbike Championship podium finish with third place in the very final race of the 2007 season at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in Kent today.

The Rizla Suzuki racer, starting from sixth on the grid, took fifth place in the opening race before raising his game for the 26th and final race of the year in the afternoon and coming home third to stand on the podium for the first time.

After a heavy crash in practice yesterday, Chris Walker showed immense courage to take to the track with massive bruising and in considerable pain. Heroically, from 11th on the grid, he finished in seventh and sixth places in front of the huge crowd that basked in glorious October sunshine.

Rizla Suzuki's Cal Crutchlow will start from sixth on the grid for tomorrow's final round of the 2007 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in Kent after showing fast podium potential on race tyres during practice.

Crutchlow built his pace across three practice sessions before challenging for pole position in the 50 minutes of qualifying. He eventually ended up sixth, only 2/10ths of a second behind pole position man Gregorio Lavilla on a Ducati.

Chris 'Stalker' Walker put on a heroic display of riding after suffering a heavy crash in the morning session that left him heavily battered and bruised. He rode through the pain barrier to finish an incredible 11th.

Valentino Rossi qualified second for the second consecutive race at Phillip Island today, sealing his eleventh front-row start of the season at a track that has seen him top the podium seven times in his career. The Fiat Yamaha Team rider will share the front row with Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner, promising an exciting battle between the top three riders in the championship for tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix. Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards meanwhile had a less successful qualifying session, setting the eleventh fastest lap, which will put him in the middle of the fourth row on tomorrow's grid.

Following a day of changeable weather yesterday, this morning saw Rossi and Edwards sixth and tenth respectively in similar conditions, with the track starting out fully wet but drying quickly throughout the session to produce some faster times in the latter stages.

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi will start tomorrow's Australian GP from the first and second rows of the grid following a thrilling qualifying session at Phillip Island this afternoon. Both men took their turn at the top during qualifying, Stoner ending up third, six tenths off pole, and Capirossi fifth quickest, a further 0.274 seconds back. This will be Stoner's tenth front-row start of the season so far.

The recently crowned World Champion - who today received a letter of congratulations and good wishes from Australian Prime Minister John Howard - isn't concerned that he's not on pole because his pace on race tyres has been devastatingly quick here and Phillip Island is a fast, open circuit where overtaking isn't an issue for fast, brave riders.