Phillip Island MotoGP

[NinjaMaster]

My second favourite racing weekend of the year (behind Phillip Island WSB!) is on this weekend. As usual, the local buildup has been lacklustre but hopefully when the bikes fire up tomorrow the interest will pique a bit. The weather forecast is all over the joint but the latest report is of a fine weekend.

And to the racing. Obviously Rossi has to be favourite given his stellar recent form and a very good record around the seaside circuit. Stoner had a welcome return to form at Motegi last weekend and is last years winner but his crook wrist casts a bit of a doubt as to whether he can beat Rossi over a race distance, especially now that Vale and Yamaha are really humming along. Nicky Hayden is one to watch and a real dark horse for the win. He'e has always been fast around the Island and will want to leave Honda on a positive note.
Pedrosa surprised many with his quick adaption to the Bridgestone tires last time out and with more time on them, he's only going to get faster though Phillip Island perhaps isn't one of his strongest tracks. The Anti-Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, will also likely be right up there again, duelling it out with his rival of the past couple of years in Andrea Dovizioso who will want to get that first podium in a very impressive debut season.
Chris Vermeulen has generally gone fairly well at the Island but he and fellow Aussie, Ant West will likely need a bit of moisture to fall to be near the pointy end come race day (especially Westy) at their home race. All in all, it should be a cracking weekend of racing at a track that is high on the riders list of favourites.

I'm heading down tomorrow to take my seat in the Bass Strait stand. If anyone is coming down, keep an eye out for a skinny dude wearing a Stoner cap or floppy Kawasaki hat with a green t-shirt that has "Stoner Vermeulen West, Aussie riders are best" in yellow writing. That will be me! :D

[The Phantom]

Stoner broke the lap record on lap 14 of first practise, with a 1:30.094... Rossi is so far the only other guy going under 1:31 with a 1:30.764.

Jason O'Halloran took pole for the Australian Superbike event, with a 1:34.295 on his CBR1000RR. O'Halloran the current lap record holder in that class.


1 C. STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 1'30.094
2 V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team + 0.670
3 A. DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 0.949
4 A. DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 0.957
5 R. DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP + 0.976
6 D. PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team + 1.067
7 S. NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 1.127
8 J. LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team + 1.141
9 L. CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1.154
10 J. TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha + 1.183
11 N. HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team + 1.190
12 C. EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha + 1.274
13 S. GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 1.438
14 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1.625
15 M. MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team + 1.709
16 J. HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team + 1.720
17 A. WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team + 2.117
18 T. ELIAS SPA Alice Team + 2.321

I so want to comment on the "Stoner" cap and the green tshirt.............but I won't. Have a great weekend :D

[osg]

Lorenzo currently on fire...... new outright lap record of 1'28.990... 10 mins to go.

[osg]

Hayden 1'28.756 ..... new outright lap record...... incredible quali session. 7 mins to go.

Valentino in pits after crashing at the 15 min to go mark.

[osg]

Stoner 1'28.665.... Outright Lap Record and Pole with a handful of seconds to go...... fantastic pressure riding.

Rossi failed to complete his final flying lap after running out of time...... starts 12th :(

[Corny]

the way he crashed was quit weird.. But I think he can still manage a podium

quali was very good! it seems that I have had more pleasure on this year's qualifying sessions than on the races itself.. bit like F1

[jim mcglinchey]

mmmm would it be fairer if we had a TT style time trial, it certainly couldn't be much less exciting.

[ChrisS]

The races today were quite good.

Congratulations to Mike di Meglio for winning the 125cc race and the 2008 125cc world championship. 10+ secs lead is not something you expect in 125s

gread close racing in 250cc all the way to the finish line, the best class in GP this season (no wonder Dorna wants to destroy it ;) )

MotoGP was also good. Stoner just run away with it, Hayden tried but couldnt keep up. Rossi, JT, Lorenzo and Dovi gave a good show.

[Wim_Impreza]

The races were good indeed. Finally again a win for Stoner. Hayden was again good and West was again before Hopkins in the standings.

Hopefully West could go to WSBK next year with a Kawasaki.

[tha_jackal]

Congrats to Casey ;)

Oh and good to see Westy beat Hopper.. again :lol:

West will not continue with Kawasaki next year, in any class.. They suck, pure and simple :) Sorry Clint..

[NinjaMaster]

They weren't hemp shirts. :p

[NinjaMaster]

I so want to comment on the "Stoner" cap and the green tshirt.............but I won't. Have a great weekend :D
They weren't hemp shirts! :p

[The Phantom]

Rossi showed why he is the king when he passed Toseland - after watching for a while and deciding he'd found a weakness, he passed into T1, but Toseland (who is not green at PI) had a previously-unrevealed line out of the corner that set him up to go straight back past Rossi.

So Rossi just used JT's back-up line the next time around :) and Toseland simply had no come-back.

It sounds so simple but to see how he did it was pure magic - Toseland would have been shaking his head...

[CaptainRaiden]

Rossi showed why he is the king when he passed Toseland - after watching for a while and deciding he'd found a weakness, he passed into T1, but Toseland (who is not green at PI) had a previously-unrevealed line out of the corner that set him up to go straight back past Rossi.

So Rossi just used JT's back-up line the next time around :) and Toseland simply had no come-back.

It sounds so simple but to see how he did it was pure magic - Toseland would have been shaking his head...

Oh yes, I was wondering the exact same thing when I watched that move. Plus, he didn't let Toseland have a sniff again after passing him that second time. He was just gone, had a gap of like 0.6 in the next three corners, probably telling Toseland, "Oh no, not again, you don't." That really shows how Rossi is probably the greatest tactical rider we have ever seen. Pure genius.

Stoner had a tremendous race from start to finish. On his day, he is untouchable.

The 250cc race was THE BEST of the day. This Bautista-Simoncelli rivalry is kinda reminiscent of the Gibernau-Rossi battles from MotoGP. Maybe more so because that Simoncelli is really a Rossi clone, but with a lot more hair.

I have to say, that guy has become a completely different rider. The way he has beaten Bautista in the last two races has been kinda impressive, albeit some would call his lines desperate/aggressive.

[leopard]

I think Nakano was playing the game smartly, keep staying closely behind riders are battling a position and muscled in on between them in the last corner.

[spiritone]

Way to go nicky, to bad its taken honda the whole year to give you a good bike. Maybe if you could get some firestones you might be able to fight for the win.

[Roby44]

My second favourite racing weekend of the year (behind Phillip Island WSB!) is on this weekend. As usual, the local buildup has been lacklustre but hopefully when the bikes fire up tomorrow the interest will pique a bit. The weather forecast is all over the joint but the latest report is of a fine weekend.

And to the racing. Obviously Rossi has to be favourite given his stellar recent form and a very good record around the seaside circuit. Stoner had a welcome return to form at Motegi last weekend and is last years winner but his crook wrist casts a bit of a doubt as to whether he can beat Rossi over a race distance, especially now that Vale and Yamaha are really humming along. Nicky Hayden is one to watch and a real dark horse for the win. He'e has always been fast around the Island and will want to leave Honda on a positive note.
Pedrosa surprised many with his quick adaption to the Bridgestone tires last time out and with more time on them, he's only going to get faster though Phillip Island perhaps isn't one of his strongest tracks. The Anti-Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, will also likely be right up there again, duelling it out with his rival of the past couple of years in Andrea Dovizioso who will want to get that first podium in a very impressive debut season.
Chris Vermeulen has generally gone fairly well at the Island but he and fellow Aussie, Ant West will likely need a bit of moisture to fall to be near the pointy end come race day (especially Westy) at their home race. All in all, it should be a cracking weekend of racing at a track that is high on the riders list of favourites.

I'm heading down tomorrow to take my seat in the Bass Strait stand. If anyone is coming down, keep an eye out for a skinny dude wearing a Stoner cap or floppy Kawasaki hat with a green t-shirt that has "Stoner Vermeulen West, Aussie riders are best" in yellow writing. That will be me! :D


I missed you again!! I was down Bass Straight way on Saturday about 1pm...I was walking back to MG the long way from the start / finish line!!


The weather was great Saturday and Sunday wasn't it??? Friday well...not so good, but for me it was great as Valentino signed my helmet!!

[NinjaMaster]

Well, what can I say but another highly enjoyable weekend at Phillip Island! The weather was typically all over the place on Friday but at least it was good when it counted. There's nothing like being there to watch these guys apply their trade and get a more complete appreciation for how close to the edge they really are.
The things that really stood out to me over the weekend:
- the Suzuki's look really boring.
- the Kwaks even sound slow. They sound flat like they are running on diesel!
- Casey Stoner is fearless. His bike was wobbling everywhere yet he just kept the throttle pinned. Anyone who thinks he's a pussy is deluded.
- just how much I love powerslides. Seeing Nicky sliding it through turn 3 and he and Stoner powersliding over the top of Lukey Heights is phenomonal.
- Valentino Rossi is a machine. He just looks like he's on rails. So smooth that he doesn't look that fast. But he is. Unbelievable.
- Dovizioso looked clearly the fastest in the wet. Looked miles faster than anyone through Doohan corner which was most impressive.
- Ducati's falling over. Particularly Melandri. Poor fella had some of the weirdest front end loses I've ever seen. It just fell over!
- Simoncelli and Bautista's on track brawl. Neither pulled any punches and their battle was as fierce as is possible.
- Di Meglio was in a class of his own and fully deserves his title. Was one of the more spread out 125 races I've seen though.
- Kawasaki's on the podium in the support Superbike and Supersport races! Including in the Dry! Oh, and they were fantastic support races too. Such an under-rated series.
- The Ducati Desmosedici that was leaving the circuit as I arrived on Saturday. Shame I only got a short glimpse but it sounded great.
- the new Yam R1 looks pox and the 09 Kwak ZX6R looks great. Best looking bike on display though was the Red Bull KTM RC8.
- worst thing on display was the pillion dude in a manikini leaving the circuit. AAGH!!!

So overall, I couldn't be much happier with the GP. Except it always goes too quick. Have to wait for WSB next year now. And I can't wait. :up:


I missed you again!! I was down Bass Straight way on Saturday about 1pm...I was walking back to MG the long way from the start / finish line!!


The weather was great Saturday and Sunday wasn't it??? Friday well...not so good, but for me it was great as Valentino signed my helmet!!

Ah Roby, you wouldn't have seen me on Saturday anyway as I had a mates bucks party to go to (poor planning Leigh, very poor!). It made for a very busy weekend. Got to sleep by bout 3am Sunday morning then up a bit after 6 to ride to the Island. Then staying up to watch the Supers on Sunday night led to a pretty bleary eyed me at work on Monday. :s nore:

[Roby44]

That guy in the manikini was :eek: Surely that was an offense against nature or something!! :p :


We watched the Supers at the Isle of Wight and the place went off when Troy crossed the line in the first race!

Poor Roby , that bike of his is a worry!! :mad:

[mx311]

Just another quick note about the PI GP, I'm not sure if anyone else remembers a young bloke you used to post on the old board under the name "jemracingAUS", a young kid from Melbourne who was about 16 years old? Anyone? Well whilst we were all watching the GP from PI that young kid Jed Metcher was racing in it. Started 33rd (one of only three wildcards to qualify), finished 20th, (the only Aussie wildcard to finish). If you still read these boards Jed, great job. :D :up:

[Roby44]

I remember the commentators talking about him. Yes he did an excellent job out there....