 1 Our trip to Phillip Island - Thursday We drove to our accommodation at a little town called Koromburra, about 100km to the SE of Melbourne. The winds were horrendous and we drove through sleet, rain and hail. |
 2 Our trip to Phillip Island - Thursday Our fuel consumption was horrendous so we got off the freeway and bought a funnel so that we could use our spare fuel. At the next stop, I checked the trailer's tyre pressures and discovered that they were 35 PSI instead of 60. Instant fix. |
 3 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday It rained all night and continued next morning. To make matters worse, I unhitched the trailer and then rolled the bike off. When it got past the balance point, the front of the trailer let go and the back suddenly dropped. I lost balance and dropped the bike. Luckily, the damage was superficial but it did my self-esteem no good at all. |
 4 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday The weather was so bad that Jenni drove me to the track and I left the bike back at the motel. I go in through the front gate and it's a water sodden mess. |
 5 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday The on course announcers kept rabbiting on with their chauvinistic superlatives about the course, how the riders loved it, best in the world, fastest in the world, the riders want to migrate to Australia, etc. etc. The reality is that the spectator facilities are third-world crap. |
 6 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday The rain stops and I decide to walk around the track perimeter. This is the camping area and I can think of no worse punishment than spending a night here in the mud, slush and cold. The temperature today was 15° with nighttime around 10°. |
 7 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday MotoGP is owned by the Spanish. Be sure to read the fine print before you visit Spain. |
 8 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday The views are magnificent and (announcer gobbledigook aside) the track really is situated in the most scenic location of all of the world's race tracks. |
 9 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday Seagulls are a problem at the track. Marco Melandri hit a seagull at 303 KPH and hurt his hand where it hit him - at first he thought he'd broken his hand. The bird was totally destroyed. |
 10 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday On each of the three days, the Air Force Roulettes put on displays of precision flying in their Swiss-built Pilatus trainers. It stopped raining and the rest of the day remained fine. |
 11 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday I take my seat in the grandstand at Lukey Heights and watch the free practice session, FP1. Here Rossi follows the Repsol Hondas of Andre Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa. |
 12 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday He is quite clearly faster than them. |
 13 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday The bitterly cold wind drives me out of the grandstand and I go down to turn 10, MG corner, to escape the cold. Lorenzo was off-colour (something he ate) and struggled during FP1. |
 14 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday Casey was brilliant. This was his second race after returning from his sabbatical. The noise the Ducati makes is more like a fire-breathing monster than a race bike. It snarls, pops, backfires and then splutters as the traction control kicks in. |
 15 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday The Police were on hand and were very low key. I never saw a single incident that the Police were required to handle. This I thought was a tribute to the peaceful nature of Australian crowds and the low-key approach of the Police. |
 16 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday In a continuation of his horror year, James Toseland crashes at turn 10. |
 17 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday He does his best to rejoin the session but the bike is too damaged to continue. |
 18 Our trip to Phillip Island - Friday Along with my radio headset tuned to MotoGP FM, the iPhone also allowed me to follow what was happening with its live timing updates. After FP1, Rossi was slightly faster than Stoner but Lorenzo was a long way behind. |
 19 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday The next day, Saturday, I ride the bike to the Island and park in the secure parking area. Jenni decides to join me later in the day for QP. These bikes have so much power that as they enter the main straight at 200+ KPH, the front wheel wants to lift. This is the Free Practice 2 session, FP2. |
 20 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday Rossi tends not to lift the front wheel as much and he's not afraid to use all of the track including the ripple strips. |
 21 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday Pedrosa follows Nicky Hayden. |
 22 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday It's a shootout between Rossi and Stoner - they are clearly the fastest. |
 23 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday Lorenzo is improving as his health returns to normal. |
 24 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday Then the rain starts and drenches the track. The riders return to the pits for their "wet" bikes and continue the session. |
 25 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday Even in the wet Stoner and Rossi are the fastest. Rossi does 307 KPH down the main straight in the wet. |
 26 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday Pedrosa has found some pace and finishes FP2 in second. Lorenzo has improved but is still a full second slower than Rossi. |
 27 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday After the rain, the grounds are a mess. The on course announcers continue with their inane superlatives. |
 28 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday This is really third world. The toilets ran out of water, paper and soap today. The unflushed urinals stank, the floors were caked with mud and the supplies were not replenished over night. |
 29 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday For qualifying on Saturday afternoon, I return to our grandstand seat at Lukey Heights (turn 9) where Jenni joins me. Rossi is very fast as is Stoner. |
 30 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday Towards the end of the session, Rossi has pole. |
 31 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday But Stoner squeezes him out by 50 milliseconds. Pedrosa knocks Lorenzo back to fourth on his last lap - the margin is 1 millisecond. This is Lorenzo's first race this year where he hasn't been on the front row. |
 32 Our trip to Phillip Island - Saturday After earlier problems, Colin Edwards finds the right settings and qualifies fifth. Surprise packet is Alex De Angelis, so far without a MotoGP contract for next year, who completes the second row. Toseland and Vermeulen are nowhere. |
 33 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day On race day, we ride to the Island together and park in the Lukey Heights parking area. This turns out to be a real bonus when it's time to leave. Rossi is reasonably fast during morning warmup but it is later revealed that he was using a front tyre that had already gone race distance and, by the end, had 40 laps on it. |
 34 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Casey sported new patriotic livery for the day. He publicly thanked Marlboro for allowing him to ride with the special livery. It looks like Casey is starting to realise that Marlboro pays his salary. |
 35 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day During morning warmup ALex De Angelis, as he did on previous days, follows Rossi. |
 36 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Both Rossi and Stoner took it easy in warmup not wanting to risk damage or injury. |
 37 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Lorenzo was fast but still not as fast as Rossi or Stoner. |
 38 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Right in front of us, between turns 11 and 12, Lorenzo does a practice start. |
 39 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Alex De Angelis is fastest in morning warmup but Stoner and Rossi both know that they are in good shape for the race. |
 40 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day After the 125 and 250 races, there is a considerable gap before the main race starts. This time is used for the riders to do a parade lap in Austin-Healey sports cars. With breathless excitement, the commentators assured us that no other country in the world does this kind of thing. |
 41 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day The temperature was again unpleasant varying between 14° and 17° hence the winter woolies. |
 42 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Fortunately, for the race itself, the sun came out, the wind died down out and it was reasonably warm. |
 43 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Then we had a parade of Australian champions - Doohan, Bayliss and Gardner. The jingoistic drivel from the commentators continued unabashed and I take it that no other country in the history of motorcycle racing has ever produced champions of such ability and humility or in such numbers. |
 44 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Then the champions rode around on Honda CBR1000's. The announcers assured us that with a few modifications, these bikes could do lap times close to those achieved by the multi-million dollar GP machines, and all for a mere $19,000. It was another day of constant hyperbole from the commentary team. |
 45 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day The race started in ideal conditions - warm and sunny. At turn 1 Lorenzo crashed into Hayden and put himself out of the race. Here, the bikes enter turn 9 for the first time with Pedrosa in the lead, followed by Stoner and Rossi. |
 46 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Rossi's crew is frantically preparing his pit board to tell him that Lorenzo is out. A podium finish in this race by Rossi would make his championship lead unassailable. De Angelis is doing well in fourth. |
 47 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Six laps into the race and Rossi and Stoner have left the rest of the field far behind. |
 48 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Rossi is much better on the brakes, especially at turn 1, and he usually closes on Stoner here at turn 10. However, Stoner is faster through turns 11 and 12 which makes it impossible for Rossi to draft Stoner down the straight. |
 49 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day As the race progresses, it is between the two men who have dominated from the start. They eventually create a nearly 20 second gap back to Pedrosa in third. My iPhone live timing tells me that, with three laps to go, Rossi has dropped to 1 second behind - he's clearly riding for the championship now. |
 50 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day On the last lap, Casey is cheered on by the crowd. |
 51 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day Casey rode a brilliant race as did Rossi. Rossi backed off to bring his bike home safely - a relative term. Pedrosa finished 22 seconds behind in third place but he was still 10 seconds faster than fourth. |
 52 Our trip to Phillip Island - Sunday Race Day The 20 points Rossi collected put him 38 points in front of Lorenzo with only 50 points left. And me? After the rain, cold, wind, slush, mud, filthy toilets, inane commentary (they even said "It's all happening") I went home deliriously happy. Only MotoGP can do this and only Phillip Island can produce MotoGP racing like this (please forgive my jingoism). |