Matt Roberts BBC Sport at Sepang

Simoncelli: so much hair, he has to wash it in installments

Marco Simoncelli deservedly lifted the 250cc title on Sunday after an outstanding run of form that has seen him turn around the biggest championship deficit in the history of the quarter-litre category.

After failing to score in the opening two races, the Italian found himself 49 points behind Mika Kallio by round four but third place at Sepang on Sunday means he is 28 clear of Alvaro Bautista with just Valencia remaining.

You would think that kind of achievement would be enough to distract me from my obsession with his hair but I'm sorry; following his comment after qualifying on Saturday afternoon I have no choice.

"I've really struggled with the heat here, I'm not sure why," he mused. Not sure why? It was 41ºC and he was wearing the equivalent of five woolly hats beneath his helmet. That might have had something to do with it.

As for Kallio, his championship implosion has not deterred the Alice Ducati team from officially confirming him as one of their MotoGP riders for next season, with Italian youngster Niccolo Canepa making the step up from factory test rider to join the Finn.

As well as two new riders, the satellite team will undergo a clear out of the largely Spanish crew hired by disgraced (and sacked) team manager Luis D'Antin.

They will be replaced by Ducati factory employees, who will be tuning two spanking new GP9 machines, featuring the revolutionary carbon chassis that Casey Stoner will test following the final race of the season at Valencia next week.

The 250cc two-stroke machines will be replaced by 600cc four-strokes in 2011 but the immediate future of the class was thrown into disarray this weekend when KTM announced their shock withdrawal at of the end of this season.

With Honda having already withdrawn their support for the smaller classes a couple of years ago, this leaves Aprilia as the only factory supplier to the intermediate category (Simoncelli officially won the title on a Gilera but technically it is an Aprilia with different stickers).

Unlike the old factory Hondas and an ancient Yamaha ridden by Indonesia's perennial backmarker Doni Pradita, this year's KTM machines will not be rented out to private teams.

With the class now effectively monobrand and as few as 10 riders confirmed for next season amid the current sponsorship crisis, it will be interesting to see if the 600cc move is brought forward a year.

While Spanish property developers Onde 2000 will officially confirm their backing to a single Ducati team with Sete Gibernau this coming Thursday, there will be no third Kawasaki on the MotoGP grid next year after a deal with Jorge Martinez 'Aspar' finally fell through at Sepang.

The factory's insistence that Martinez sign Shinya Nakano clashed with his sponsors' demands for a Spanish rider and negotiations hit an impasse. The successful 250cc and 125cc team manager says negotiations will continue with Kawasaki and other factories over the coming months as he looks to complete the step up to MotoGP in 2010.

Life's not bad, but I'd rather be Valentino Rossi

Last week I mentioned Brad Pitt's revelation that he would like to be Valentino Rossi and on Thursday at Sepang the Italian gave a typically quirky response.

"If Brad Pitt wants to be me for a couple days then I wouldn't mind being him. He can ride my Yamaha and I'll spend some time with Angelina!"

When it was pointed out that the couple have six children, Vale quipped: "Give me three nights with Angelina and I'll look after the kids."

The closest thing Rossi has to kids of his own is his beloved pet bulldog Guido, who recently moved back to Italy with him after they lived together in London.

I've come about the vacancy in the Rossi kennel

Unfortunately, though, the day after Valentino arrived home from Australia last week, Guido woofed his final goodbye and departed for the big kennel in the sky.

Vale was heartbroken and Guido's caricature, which always features on the seat unit of his Yamaha, was given a pair of angel's wings for the race at Sepang.

It was a touching gesture and Valentino told friends: "Guido would have liked it." However, he's not one to hang around and I'm not sure how happy Guido would be to hear that a replacement bulldog puppy has already been purchased, which Vale plans to call… wait for it… Guido.

He must be barking.

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