Ukawa leads V5 1-2-3-4 at Sepang.

HRC ruled the first day at a sticky Sepang, as Tohru Ukawa led a V5 1-2-3-4 by just 0.089secs from his team-mate Valentino Rossi - with Garry McCoy a surprise best of the rest during first qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The session started with Rossi immediately on the pace and he almost equalled his best from morning practice within eight minutes, to lead Motegi winner Barros by 0.233secs, with Kenny Roberts in third ahead of Daijiro Kato.

The Doctor soon proved that his Motegi blues were well and truly behind him by pushing his Repsol Honda unusually hard in the early stages to go 0.7secs clear of now nearest rival Kato - in the first ten minutes.

One third of the session over and main mover was Ukawa, who had slotted into second 0.58secs behind his team-mate, with Barros a further tenth ahead of Kato to make it four RCV's in a row, with Roberts best of the rest, and sixth fastest Capirossi again top two stroke.

But proving he hadn't shaken his Motegi bad luck was Sete Gibernau who fell from his Suzuki V4, his second 'off' of the day, just minutes from the halfway mark. The visibly angry Spaniard had been in eighth fastest and was forced to run back to the pits to try again.

Just minutes later McCoy, who's had a dismal year on the underpowered and underdeveloped Yamaha two-stroke, came from nowhere to fourth! - 0.5secs away from Vale's V5. Having seen his top two stroke title taken by the Aussie, Capirossi wound his NSR500 up to full pace, but even 'Little Loris' could only manage sixth, behind his Brazilian team-mate.

With 20 minutes to go the weather was starting to challenge the MotoGP stars for attention as lightning began to strike in the background - although the rain held off for now...

As the last quarter of the session started Kato had closed to within 0.161secs of the new World Champion, but while one Japanese caught the attention another took pole in the shape of the unlikely (given his recent run of bad luck) Tohru Ukawa - just 0.089secs clear of the field.

With the sky darkening further the 'Man in Black' Capirossi was fastest of all in the second sector, but it would all slip away - literally - in the third when the Italian ran wide. Capirex shot across the gravel and having kept upright was forced to lock the rear wheel and throw his HRC machine down to avoid hitting the tyre wall. He would remount and return to the pits uninjured.

8 mins to go and the normally silky smooth Kato crashed from his Fortuna liveried RCV as he tried to make up the mere 0.16secs he needed for pole. Approaching a tight left hander the Japanese lost the front end and slid into the gravel - ending his session.

As Kato caught a lift back to the pits on a scooter, Jeremy McWilliams - fresh from announcing that he'll ride the Proton V5 next year - was on track and on the pace, taking seventh behind Biaggi having been almost equal wit the RCV's until the final sector - or more precisely its two long straights - whereupon the 990cc machines pulled a 30 km/h top speed over the Team KR star.

Into the normally crucial last lap and Roberts wrung everything from his Suzuki to get up to seventh, while Rossi (who hadn't improved since his fourth lap) couldn't challenge. By contrast, Ducati bound Capirossi put his #65 machine ahead of Roberts - but today top two stroke, and Yamaha, was McCoy.

Therefore Ukawa ended the day a surprise fastest having broken the lap record (set by Capirossi in 2001) by 0.5secs, but - weather permitting - his HRC colleagues will be back to fight him for it tomorrow.

Top M1 was Roman Emperor Biaggi in sixth (with Checa eleventh) while Tech 3 team-mates Shinja Nakano and Olivier Jacque finished the day in 13th and 16th respectively - but with no spare machines between them they could be forgiven for riding cautiously. The Japanese could still be in big trouble after his M1 suffered what looked like an engine failure - giving his mechanics plenty to do if he is to avoid having to ride the YZR tomorrow.

Andrew Pitt completed his first MotoGP qualifying session in 22nd and last, 5.5secs off pole and needing 2.3secs to displace next closest man Laconi. However, having not ridden the team green machine - or Sepang circuit - before this morning, the Aussie did well to steadily increase his pace throughout the session and avoid the temptation to over ride the somewhat wild ZX-RR, which could well have ended in disaster. Pitt will have gathered plenty of useful information for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, just minutes after the chequered flag the long threatened rain duly began to fall - will the MotoGP stars be able to improve tomorrow...?

Full times to follow...

1. Ukawa
2. Rossi
3. Kato
4. Barros
5. McCoy
6. Biaggi
7. Capirossi
8. Roberts