17th September - Moto GP mach 2 - Phillip Island

Yes, that's right it was Moto GP time again, more motorbikes for us to endure!

Melbourne is actually 2 hours away from Phillip Island and the race so we had to get a bus there a touch early in the morning. 6 am early to be precise, but you have to sacrifice some things for your love of bikes like time.

It started off well, but then we got hit by some fog, a lot of fog. So much so that cars and bikes were drving across some roundabouts because they couldn't see them coming. Seriously foggy. So that was the main weather factor we were dreading, at Donnington last year we had terrential rain, at Laguna Seca we had scorching desert heat and in OZ we had blanket fog.

But about 11 o'clock ish the fog began to lift and we could see the track, racing was only delayed by 40 minutes. We pitched our stall up on the back curves and had some chips for breakfast. I then went for a walk to find some free goodies while Sarah lazed in the emerging sun. There wasn't as much free stuff as there was in America but managed to grab a few goodies here and there and see some custom bikes. I managed to wal around the whole track in the end which was fun.

On my travels I'd found a better spot so we moved the tent over to the other side of the track. Just in time for the start of the 125s. We cracked open the box of wine we had illegally smuggled into the venue and set about our subway lunches to the sound of racing bikes. The sun was beating down as well, a lesurely 25 degrees.

Just before the Moto GP race, an F18 fighter jet did a display for the crowd which was loud and impressive. But then just as the bikes started we got some spots of rain. It was a shame because Shinya Nakano and Rossi had got off to a flyer so that would have been an interesting race. But they used the new rules that when the rain comes down the riders must do a pit stop, Formula 1 style, where they change bikes with wet tyres. All alot of fun and other riders came out on top after the changes.

Marco Melandri came in first with the Australian, Chris Vermulen, in second to the delight of the crowd. Valentino Rossi just pipped Sete Gibernau on the final straight for the 3rd place making the standings very interesting for the last 3 races of the season. The championship could be anyones.

After the race we managed to get on to the track, whcih was very cool. We got under the podium and watched the prizes get given out. I got a really cool video on the camera of them spraying the champagne everywhere.

All on all a fantastic day, it took a while to get home but we slept very soundly that night.

Awesome.

Laters

Pricey