THE final Phillip Island Grand Prix for Casey Stoner was always going to be interesting, with anticipation building from the time the Australian announced his forthcoming retirement months earlier.
While Aussies were hoping he’d defend the title he won for the second time in 2011, that wasn’t to be due to injury suffered as he tried to remain competitive at the Indianapolis round of the series.
Stoner returned to the MotoGP circus a few weeks and a few races before the Australian round, in time to be very much at the pointy end of the field for his home race. And while he started the race weekend still in pain and still unable to even walk without a limp, Stoner went out from the start of free practice and set blistering lap times.
Looking through some side-on images I shot during practice I realised Stoner’s wheels weren’t inline, despite being hundreds of metres out of Siberia Corner: a careful analysis of the riders showed no-one else was doing that.
In qualifying Stoner just picked up where he’d left off in practice, setting close to lap-record pace early in the session and putting the other riders on notice that he was fast, very fast, and keen to make it six in a row in the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.
There was a brief heart-stopping moment or two when he crashed early in qualifying at the slow Turn Four, a spectacular low-speed highside – an odd crash which looked worse than it was.
Stoner was back on his second bike within a few minutes, and dropped his time with minutes of being back out there. Stoner seemed able to defy physics as he reeled off numerous 1:29m laps, doing so while other racers weren’t getting below 1:30.
The slow-motion shots of him crossed-up, the tyres skipping across the bumpy Phillip Island bitumen really showed off his skills in keeping his machine under control despite riding it on the edge of traction and control at speeds over 330km/h.
There was talk of Stoner getting into a 1:28s, which is amazing.
He did a 1:29 during Friday practice on hard tyres and a cool circuit, and Darryl Beattie said Stoner had told him he had more speed in him. Under 10 minutes of qualifying to go and no-one else was under 1:30. With eight minutes to go he went faster. His qualifying time of 1:29.623 was a blistering lap time on a bircuit due to be resurfaced in December. His Pole position in 2011 was 1:29.975. Light drizzle with a few minutes to go in qualifying killed the session.
Until Stoner started his Reign as King of Phillip Island, Valentino Rossi was the man to beat. Rossi, at odds with the Ducati, was two seconds slower than Stoner and back in eighth.
The crowds watching all this action were records, too: over 29,000 on the Friday and 40,000 attended Saturday’s qualifying, which are both record attendences for their respective days.
Jorge Lorenzo took second spot on the grid and admitted he didn’t think he’d win, basically saying “Casey’s unbeatable, we hope to be close”. This from the 2010 and 2012 title winner.
The race had the result the fans had come for and the title was decided, but it wasn’t really a great race – Stoner was too good at the front, taking the lead early and reeling off fast laps to win easily. Lorenzo, more concerned about the title than the race took a very content second spot after the only man who could prevent him from winner the championship, Dani Pedrosa, crashed out early in Turn Four. The excitement was for third spot, which turned into a tussle eventually won by another crowd favourite, Cal Crutchlow. The Briton is one to watch.
Why have Australians been so dominant at Phillip Island? Way back in 1989, Wayne Gardner Won the first World Championship 500cc Australian Grand Prix, starting a pattern of Australian winners of their home race – Gardner backed it up in 1990 and when the race returned to Phillip Island after a six year absence it was Mick Doohan doing the winning.
Gardner, Doohan and now Stoner have corners named after each of them, such has been their form over the years.
But I don’t believe it’s any sort of home ground advantage – if anything, the pressure of the local media and patriotic crowd could lead to mistakes. I think it’s more to do with the Australians’ ability to control a sliding bike.
All three of the Australian winners – and other winners such as Valentino Rossi – have been comfortable riding a sliding bike.
This year I’ve watched Stoner as he bounced across the bumps of a track in need of resurfacing, but unlike other riders he’s able to ride around the problems and still set blistering times – although his fastest lap was actually set in 2008, which was also when the circuit’s fastest lap was set, by Nicky Hayden – who also happens to be a rider happy to have a bike squirming around underneath him.
Phillip Island was designed and build in the 1950s, at a time of low horsepower bikes and cars, a time when flowing bends were built so brakes weren’t over-stressed and competitive racing was a matter of slipstreaming and skill, not late braking, point-and-squirt riding. When the track was rebuilt for the World Championship, the only major change to the track design was to make Turn Four much shorter, so it should be no surprise it’s now the slowest corner on the track (there was no run off at the exit of the corner on the old layout).
So Phillip Island’s track design is basically the oldest on the calendar – sure, Assen is an older circuit, but it was shortened and heavily modified a few years ago. About the only thing left that’s traditional there is the race is on a Saturday.
Stoner praises Phillip Island as a place where the big bikes can really be wound up. It rewards someone who will get on the throttle early, who is willing to make the bike spin up its rear tyre, who has the balls to really use the horsepower available.
It’s difficult to predict who the next Australian GP champion will be, but the last decade and a half has belonged to riders who did their time in the small-bore GP classes, graduating through to the premier class rides – Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa are all examples of this.
So while many are lamenting no obvious replacement for the retiring Casey Stoner, we shouldn’t forget we have two teenagers in Moto3…
On race day at Phillip Island Adelaide native Arthur Sissis would go on to get third, an amazing ride.
He began his racing days like his compatriot Casey Stoner, riding speedway and dirt track as a youngster.
“My sister, she taught me how to ride a motorbike when I was little”, admits Sissis. “Then I was just riding speedway but I always wanted to race road bikes.”
The dirt was his method of honing his skills in preparation for a road racing career that would hit the international stage in 2009 – competing in the prestigious Red Bull Rookies Cup.
The family bought a van in Europe and lived in that for seven months or so. In a show of real commitment, during this time Sissis was also carving a solid reputation on the domestic road racing scene, claiming the South Australian and national 125cc titles in 2008 and the 250cc category in 2009. In 2010, with more experience under his belt, Sissis raced again in the Rookies Cup, this time finishing an encouraging thirteenth. However it would be the breakthrough year of 2011 and a runner up finish in the Rookies cup that would earn him his first call up to Grand Prix, riding in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Shortly after that he was confirmed for his first full time ride in Grand Prix, riding in the Moto3 category for the Red Bull KTM team.
During his first stints overseas Sissis says he missed home a lot. “I’ve been doing this now for the last four years, and this year has been the longest I think, ten months. But you have to do what you have to do.”
As for his results this year, Sissis was surprised at how competitive he was at the beginning of the 2012 season, starting in the unknown category of Moto3.
“At the start of the season I thought, maybe top fifteen. Then when I got that good result in Qatar I thought I could challenge for the top ten in every race. Some races I’ve been in the top ten and some races I’ve been close, but it’s been pretty hard. As far as machinery goes, Sissis believes he is on a machine capable of winning – but there are some differences to his rivals.
He explained that while he has the same bike as his teammates, some of them have lighter fairings while his own are heavier, simply because he would not make the minimum weight limit otherwise. Learning new tracks has been the biggest challenge for Sissis this year. Even though he has raced in Europe for several seasons in the Rookies Cup, he is still visiting tracks for the first time.
“When they are so much faster in the first session and you’re a few seconds back it makes it hard trying to catch up. So by qualifying you’re starting at the back and then in the race you try to catch up with the front guys and it makes it hard. Next year Sissis hopes to be challenging for the top five, when the experience gained this year should pay off. “It’s really good to be team-mates with Sandro and Danny because they are so experienced. They help me a lot as well. We share data and when I’m on the track they will give me a few laps to learn the track or something, they’re really good.”
Sissis seems to know where his immediate future is headed. Joking, but at the same time not joking, he finishes by telling us, “I have another year in this team, I’ve got one year to learn, and one year to win.”
Jack Miller is the other teenager flying the flag for Australia this year in the newly created Moto3 class.
His 21st position at Phillip Island wasn’t what he would have wanted but believes he’s also hampered somewhat by uncompetitive machinery.
The international lifestyle of Grand Prix motorcycle racing is also far removed from Townsville, Queensland, where the seventeen year old grew up on the family cattle property. His racing career began on dirt track, where he had won his first national long track title by the age of eight.
After switching to road racing at fourteen Miller has gone on to hit some remarkable milestones early in his career, the highlight winning the German IDM 125cc Championship in 2011.
“We were lucky enough to win the German Championship”, explains Miller. “I also picked up a podium when the bike didn’t break down in the Spanish Championship. It was a decent year where I was picked up to do the last five races of last year and then this full year in Moto3.”
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the ambitious Aussie with some up and down results throughout 2012. As with any new class of racing, there has been a settling in period as manufacturers adapt their machinery to a new set of rules.
Miller says that throughout the year the Honda machinery that he is riding has become less competitive which has actually seen many of his rivals abandon the manufacturer in Moto3.
“I was hoping to finish the championship off in the top ten, but all of the teams that bought Honda’s in the first place, they changed chassis. A lot went to FTR – some went to Suter. Come testing there were thirteen or fourteen Honda’s, now there is only one. We are the only ones left on the Honda and the engine is great, but the chassis is just basic, you know, you can’t adjust anything on it…so we are really struggling with setup and also development.
Miller explains that it is not only cost that stops him from changing chassis – but also his team boss. “The team boss didn’t really want to change anything. He’s happy with it (the Honda) but he’s not the one riding it. It makes it hard for me…this year has been a great learning year but for next year we are really looking at getting onto a competitive bike and trying to do the best that I can do.”
“We’re getting there slowly and steadily, these last couple of races we have been getting better and better and we are getting quicker in the dry so hopefully we can keep the progression going forward.”
Even though he has been living and riding overseas for the last few seasons, Miller says he still finds adapting to life in Europe challenging.
“For the last three years I’ve lived in three different countries. I lived in Spain, then Holland last year and this year I’m in Italy. A lot of Pigeon English and sign language can get you a long way.”
Australians have a solid history of performing well at their home circuit and for Jack Miller, his affection for Phillip Island is as strong as his compatriots.
“For me, it is one of my favourite circuits. I love it, it’s got a heap of fast stuff and then a couple of technical little corners, but this year it is incredibly bumpy. I mean, even from what it was last year it is getting worse and worse but they said it is getting resurfaced for the next GP so that will be good. It’s definitely due for a remake!”
As far as the future goes, Miller says he has had offers to move up to Moto2 but another year in Moto3 is most likely. “I myself would really like to do another year in Moto3. I think Moto2 is a great championship. The guys in there, it’s like Moto3, it is so close.”