Oxfordshire's Bradley Smith came a superb fourth in the Shell Malaysia MotoGP at Sepang to consolidate his sixth place in the World Championship.
Starting ninth on the grid, the Monster Tech3 Yamaha rider fought off the challenge of fellow Briton Cal Crutchlow on the LCR Honda.
Smith eventually got the better of the on the LCR Honda rider when Crutchlow ran wide at turn 15 with nine laps to go and finished almost five seconds ahead of his compatriot.
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa rode a brilliant race to take his 51st GP victory in front of 82,000 fans.
Pedrosa led from flag to flag to win by 3.612s in hot and humid conditions.
But his victory was overshadowed by an incredible clash between Rossi and Marc Marquez that saw the latter crash out.
Race organisers reviewed the incident after the race and awarded Rossi three penalty points and he will be forced to start the final race of the season from the back of the grid.
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