Motegi, Oct 03: Valentino Rossi could clinch the world title at the Pacific Grand Prix. Red-hot Italian Rossi could convert his domination of the MotoGP season into a hat-trick of world titles with victory at an emotionally-charged Pacific Grand Prix on Sunday (October 5). The 24-year-old Honda rider, champion in the final season of 500cc in 2001 and the first season of MotoGP last year, has won the last three races to open a commanding 51-point lead over Sete Gibernau in the riders' standings. If he wins at Motegi and the Spaniard fails to score a point, Rossi will retain his crown with three of the 16 rounds left in the 2003 season. He has 262 points, Gibernau 211. But title talk is likely to be overshadowed in the build-up to the race as MotoGP returns to Japan six months after Gibernau's Japanese team mate Daijiro Kato died following a high-speed crash at the season-opening grand prix in Suzuka. On Saturday, Kato will be inducted into the Hall of Fame and his number 74 will be "retired" as a mark of respect for the former 250cc world champion.


The ruling FIM decided last month to scrap Suzuka from the grand prix calendar for next year for safety reasons and the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix will be the Motegi race.


Bureau Report