Championship to be decided in final race battle with Hayden (ANSA) - Valencia, October 27 - Italian motorcycling ace Valentino Rossi was poised this weekend to clinch his eighth world title in the very last race of the season .

After staging a thrilling comeback in the MotoGP title contest since the summer, the Yamaha rider needs to finish ahead of Honda's Nicky Hayden in Valencia on Sunday to be crowned champion again. "It's really exciting to have the title decided in a single race," said Rossi, who appeared to be oozing confidence .

The 27-year-old star has been champion in motorcycling's top class for the last five years, despite switching from Honda to Yamaha in 2003 .

But in August, with two thirds of the season over, he was 51 points behind Hayden and many fans were wondering whether his reign as MotoGP king was drawing to a close .


He had failed to finish four races, three times because his bike broke down and once because another rider ran into him. Rossi then pulled off five straight podium finishes while his rival struggled to keep up. Hayden stormed off the track at Estoril two weeks ago after his chances in that race were scuppered by a collision with fellow Honda rider Dani Pedrosa .

The result is that the Italian goes into Sunday's race with an eight point advantage over Hayden as well as the psychological boost of knowing his current form is better .

The points difference means that if the American wins on the tight and twisty circuit, Rossi must finish second to take the title. If Hayden is second, then Rossi can afford to have one rider between himself and his rival .

"I always said I'd like to battle for the title with Nicky in Valencia, even when I was way behind in the standings," Rossi said, clearly relishing the excitement .

He has said in the past that if it came down to a head-to-head battle on the track, he was sure of winning .

A poll carried out on the official MotoGP website found that three out of four of the sports fans think that the hugely popular Rossi deserves to win the 2006 title .

But in Friday's free practice, neither Rossi nor Hayden shone and Ducati's Loris Capirossi clocked the fastest time .