Tough love as Island gets ready for upgrade

Tough love as Island gets ready for upgrade

Qualifying day for Sunday’s 2011 IVECO Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix brought renewed comment from the front-runners on the state of the Phillip Island track – but merely served to underline the riders’ ongoing love affair with the Bass Strait circuit.

Casey Stoner planted his Honda on pole for the MotoGP event – his fourth straight pole position at the Island – and reflected on the news that the entire track will be resurfaced in time for the 2013 racing season.

“I would have said before this year that the track condition hasn’t been great for some years but it’s not been terrible,” said the Australian. “Turn 1 was quite bad but the rest of the circuit was more or less okay.

“But this year it’s a lot worse than it was in the past. It’s really difficult to know how hard to push because if you do go a little bit too hard on those bumps they’ll cause the bike to chatter.

“So the sooner they repave this place the better and I think it’s going to be an absolute pleasure to ride if they manage to get it very smooth.”

After leading 107 of the last 108 laps at Phillip Island Stoner is unlikely to be too concerned about passing other riders in Sunday’s 27-lap race, but he felt the track condition would not affect overtaking too badly.

“The only problem is the oil spill through Turns 1 and 2,” he said. “Into Honda (Turn 4) is a big overtaking point and it doesn’t seem too bad. At a couple of other points you might take a little less risk but in general at most of the overtaking points you can finish the overtaking before you arrive to the bumps.”

Alongside Stoner on the front row is world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who underlined how well Stoner and Phillip Island go together: “I’m riding pretty well this weekend but it’s difficult to keep close to Casey because this year he is really competitive in every track and especially here, he is always very comfortable and rides very well,” the Spanish rider admitted.

On the subject of the track, the Yamaha ace echoed Stoner’s sentiments. “I was a little disappointed when I came here this year and found these bumps and a not very good surface in some corners,” he added, “because Phillip Island is a pleasure, it’s very beautiful.

“It’s not possible to take away the wind,” Lorenzo joked, “but to get new asphalt like, for example, Mugello (home of the Italian Grand Prix) it could be very good to ride here without bumps.”

The man on the outside of the front row, Honda rider Marco Simoncelli, has his own specific problem with Phillip Island – it’s called Turn 10, where the Italian came off the bike not once, not twice, but three times in practice.

“Today I did three small crashes in the same corner. I didn’t understand very well so I tried to repeat them!” he joked. “I am happy –with the front row and I hope to finish on the podium. Better to crash in practice – I understand that I have to pay attention!”