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Capirossi takes the pole in Sepang
SEPANG, Malaysia -- Ducati's Loris Capirossi, a winner in Japan last week, took pole position for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang. Italian Valentino Rossi, hoping to claim his seventh championship title in this race, could only finish seventh fastest and will begin from the third row. Fellow Italian Capirossi set the fastest qualifying time of 2min 1.731 sec, while Rossi was 0.681 seconds behind the leader during the hour-long qualifying session. Spanish rider Sete Gibernau, on a Honda, was second fastest and will join the 32-year-old Capirossi on the front row along with Suzuki's John Hopkins of the United States. "I am quite confident of another good race tomorrow," said Capirossi. "This is my second pole position (after Motegi in Japan) for the year and I hope it will translate into another success," he told reporters. "We are seeing the real potential of the Ducati bike with the Bridgestone tyres. The real potential of the bike is coming alive with good tyres," Capirossi said. Honda's Max Biaggi, who is aiming to prevent Rossi from winning the championship crown in Sepang, finished 12th and will start from the fourth row behind Rossi. Despite finishing second in qualifying, Gibernau complained about his Honda, saying: "I don't think this qualifying reflects the real reality. All the Honda's here are struggling." Injured Marco Melandri, riding a Honda was ninth fastest and will start in the third row. Frenchman Olivier Jacque riding a Kawasaki will start on the fifth row, along with Japan's Makoto Tamada who crashed out during the qualifying race. Sunday's race is potentially a title-deciding encounter for Rossi. If season-long challenger Biaggi pulls a suprise and wins Sunday's 21 lap race, Rossi needs to finish fourth or better to secure his fifth successive premier-class title and his seventh world championship title. Winner of nine races so far this year on the Yamaha YZR-M1, the Italian star heads the title race by 112 points, despite a rare mistake in last weekend's Japanese GP which resulted in his first tumble of the year. While Rossi is well ahead of the pack with 261 points, there is a fierce battle for second place, with the next four riders -- Biaggi, Colin Edwards (Yamaha), Melandri and Nicky Hayden (Honda) -- separated by just 28 points. 
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