Top Yamaha man McCoy slides into third.

Red Bull's Garry McCoy emerged as the top Yamaha rider in the Malaysian Grand Prix, finishing third after dropping as low as eighth, after an average start from the front row.

The Australian's speedway antics kept the crowd entertained during the duration of the 21-lap race. McCoy took the race lead on lap three from Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) only one lap after doing the double on Valentino Rossi (Honda) and Max Biaggi (Marlboro Yamaha Team).

"It's tough when you've got to ride like that!" Said McCoy. "There was even a point when I tried to pass up the inside of Barros and we touched, I was up out of the seat with my legs in the air, but it was a great race.

"It was difficult to keep nailing the braking markers, especially at that pace. And if you went only slightly deeper you were all over the place, sliding everywhere. I did get a bit messed up on the start with everyone funnelling into that first hairpin, but I'm happy with the end result."

Loris Capirossi (Honda) followed the Red Bull Yamaha through, and before the completion of the lap the Italian had taken the lead. On lap six McCoy was back in control of the race and didn't relinquish it until the pace took its toll. With the number five Yamaha's tyres past their best McCoy was unable to meet Rossi's challenge, and the newly crowned world champion went on to take the win by 3.551 seconds ahead of Capirossi.

Of the other Yamaha runners, Shinya Nakano (Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3) put up the best fight to challenge for the podium; the MotoGP 500 rookie making one attempt after another to pass McCoy, including two on the final lap, only to finish two tenths of a second back in fourth.

"My start wasn't so bad, I wasn't so good either, but it was enough to keep me in touch with the lead group," said Nakano. "In the first corner everyone closed the door so I lost some ground there, although it didn't take me too long to get back in touch.

"The battle up front was running at a very hot pace, I guess that's why there were a few crashes, but I tried to keep my rhythm and put in a charge near the end of the race. I was having a few problems with controlling the rear slides but I still had enough left to put in a few last lap attempts on Garry. Whatever the outcome, it was a fantastic dog fight!"

Meanwhile Norick Abe's (Antena 3 Yamaha d'Antin) spate of bad luck in Malaysia continued when he crashed out of third place on the unluckiest of all laps, number 13. He then remounted in 13th place and remained there until the end - an unlucky number for some!

"I can't believe it, I crashed again!" Exclaimed Abe. "I think I'm jinxed here. Today I thought I was riding well, even putting in some hard passing moves. But from the beginning I was sliding the front everywhere. When Capirossi passed me he ran wide, so I shot up the inside and tried to get on the power a little earlier to get onto the straight in front of him. That's when the front let go and I crashed."

Olivier Jacque was another strong performer, running eighth at the time he lost the front end of the Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 machine: "I managed to get a good start, but for some reason we were down on power compared to yesterday; or even this morning for that matter. So I tried to make up for it by getting on the gas earlier and braking deeper into the turns. I guess this pushed my tyres to their limits and wore them out quicker than expected, and that's when I crashed. I lost the front heading into the turn."

Red Bull Yamaha rider Noriyuki Haga finished in 9th. This is how his race went: "My start was quite good, but on the first corner I thought I'd approach it from the outside because everyone was rushing for the inside line. I thought it might set me up for the next left. As it turns out I was bumped off line and lost a few places there. Even so I was able to stick with the lead group for the first five laps or so before I started to lose the front end. It just kept pushing into the turns and I nearly lost it three or four times. I tried to make up time in other parts of the track but it wasn't enough so I decided to settle into staying upright and keeping my position."

Antena 3 Yamaha d'Antin rider Jos? Luis Cardoso ended the race in 11th position: "I'm happy with that result considering all the problems we had this weekend. In the warm-up this morning we tried one last thing and it worked, so I was actually able to race the bike rather than just ride it. I had a good battle with Carlos Checa the whole time and I think that a few more laps would have seen us all over Haga."