Melandri celebrates 'best race' of '07

Prior to 2007, Melandri's highest finish at Sepang had been fifth position, but he felt his performance in this year's race was his most competitive run since MotoGP switched to 800cc bikes.

"It's been a huge weekend for me," said the Honda Gresini rider.

"It's been almost the worst track for me in the season but this year it's been for sure the best race I've had with the 800 - it's been amazing."

Melandri had to cope with an unusual problem in the race after accidentally damaging his drinks mechanism before the start.

"I tried to move the valve for the drink but I made a mistake and took it off so the water was coming out continually," he explained.

"So I chose to disconnect the tube, but for the first two laps every time I was braking the water that was still in the tube was coming out inside my visor, so it was difficult and I was a bit nervous. But after that I took my rhythm and I was pretty fast."

The Italian passed Dani Pedrosa for second and then chased Stoner for the lead, eventually finishing just 1.7 seconds behind his future Ducati teammate.

"I caught Dani, I tried to catch Casey but I had lost the front and I lost almost one second in one lap," Melandri said.

"Afterwards I tried to catch him back but it was so difficult.

"The last three laps I was very close to him but I made many mistakes and I almost went down, so I thought it was very good for me just to be second."