Dovizioso still proud of second

Seven days after being narrowly defeated by Ducati's Casey Stoner at Motegi, Dovizioso had the same experience at the hands of Yamaha's Valentino Rossi at Sepang.

But having struggled for pace in early summer, Dovizioso said he could not be too frustrated with a runner-up spot.

"Unfortunately the last lap I wasn't close enough to overtake him because I braked a little bit too late and went too long," he said.

"But anyway second place is perfect. It's not the victory but still we went from behind 40 seconds behind the first rider in the middle of the season and not being able to get a podium, and now we're fighting for the victory at two completely different races.

"And the first riders changed [from Japan to Malaysia], so we are more consistent than the other riders. So we need to be happy."

He is confident that he can take a second MotoGP win in one of the remaining three races this year.

"Sure, the victory for Honda, Repsol and my team is important," Dovizioso said.

"I will try until the end of the season. But we're working really hard and we believe we can. From the middle of the season to now we've improved a lot, just because we are a really good crew."

Dovizioso's future beyond 2010 remains unclear, with rumours in Malaysia suggesting he was moving closer to a deal to stay in the works Honda line-up on a new third bike, rather than being moved across to a Gresini-run factory machine as had seemed more likely in recent weeks.