This race featured a battle between Marco Melandri and Nicky Hayden, and a fightback to third place from a bad qualifying from Valentino Rossi, who by then was already crowned world champion.

Before the start of the weekend, the Factory Yamaha Team had unveiled a special, one-off 'retro' livery to commemorate Yamaha's fiftieth anniversary and their very successful year in racing, replacing their main sponsor and its colours (Gauloises and dark blue) with the traditional white with red and black blocks/stripes.

On Saturday, Sete Gibernau clinched his the final pole position of the season - his fifth - with a time of 1:31.874.

World champion Valentino Rossi had a poor qualifying result after a crash and starts a lowly fifteenth.

Suzuki test rider Nobuatsu Aoki replaces Kenny Roberts Jr. who is still recovering from a broken left wrist he sustained after a big highside during Friday practice at the Australian round, having then also confirmed his split with the team shortly after.