WSBK: Phillip Island, Young and Old

The victories at the season opening meeting of the World Superbike championship in Australia were shared between Leon Haslam and Carlos Checa.

Haslam the Younger was the quickest rider all weekend. After taking his debut superpole, he took his debut race win in race one on his Alstare Suzuki. Xerox Ducati's erratic young nutter Michel Fabrizio trundled over the line after a wait of four thousandths of a second, with team-mate Nitro Nori Haga 3rd.

In race two, it was Catalan codger Carlos Checa who took the victory on his privateer Althea Ducati, snatching the lead into MG corner on the last lap and forcing Haslam to settle for 2nd place with Fabrizio 3rd.

This looks like being an outstanding year for WSBK. The sheer depth of talent is arguably the best in the history of World Supers, with National and World champions stretching halfway down the field. The Ducatis are as quick as always (presumably having surreptitiously screwed a few more horsepower out of their overbored homologation specials, as always.) The Suzukis are also hella quick. Both Haslam and Guintoli led the second race, and look like making a great team. In fact, all of the factory and semi-factory teams (7 in all) have damn good riders who showed well in flashes at least.

It wasn't that surprising to see the Kawasakis being fairly slow after good starts, or the BMW of Ruben Xaus being AWOL after the nutty Spaniard had crashed at every opportunity in practise and failed to make the grid. However, the biggest disappointment was the Yamaha Italia squad. Both Crutchlow and Toseland flung their bikes at the scenery in race one, while they were fairly mediocre in race two, bearing in mind how Benny Elbowz ruled the championship for Yamaha last year.

Next time out it's the magnificent Portimao circuit in Portugal. With the field this closely packed, the rollercoaster hills and turns of that track should bring great racing.

WSBK: Phillip Island Qually 2010

The "Pocket Rocket", Leon Haslam, finally came of age in Australia in qualifying for the first World Superbike race of the 2010 season, bagging his first ever pole position on the world stage.

The stocky young Englishman was on blistering form throughout qualifying, wrestling the howling 1000cc Suzuki machine to pole position, fastest in every one of the three final qualifying sessions. It was a magnificent performance for the lad who has previously been best known for his "always the bridesmaid" performances in British Superbike.

Haslam is nicknamed "Pocket Rocket" in honour of his father, "Rocket" Ron Haslam, who never really achieved the results on the world stage that he probably deserved, but was ludicrously quick, particularly on the first lap on cold tyres in 500cc GP races. The Haslam name is now back in the record books.

Flakey Italian Michel Fabrizio, who can't quite decide if he's jaw-droppingly quick or a bloody idiot, took second place by the tiniest of margins, less than two hundredths of a second. Can the young Italian Ducati rider keep this up over a whole season to bag the title? History would say no, but it's hard to say.

Up and coming English nutcase Cal Crutchlow grabbed 3rd place. The World Supersport champion was damn quick, if a tad erratic, in British Superbike, and he returned to 1000cc machines like a duck to water. He was quick all round the lap, and downright terrifying out of the last corner. It was great to see his father in charge of the pit board too, complete with enormous moustache.

The front row was rounded out by serial crasher Carlos Checa on a privateer Ducati.

It's looking good for the race.

WSBK: Haga and Spies Ease to Victories at PI

It was all change at Phillip Island, as old boy Noriyuki Haga won the first race of the season, while new boy Ben Spies took pole position and a victory.

There has been incessant chatter about Ben Spies. He won the AMA Superbike championship at a canter, but that was just a two horse race anyway. Our ex-colonial cousins insisted the quiet young Texan was the real deal, but the only way to settle the argument was to let him loose in a proper championship like World Superbike. Riding the new "big bang" Yamaha, Spies took pole position with a blistering lap. The doubters now knew that Spies was seriously speedy, but would he be a great racer, or just a much taller version of Dani Pedrosa, quick only on an empty track?

In Race One, we only got to see Spies race for two corners before he was punted off. Haslam and Biaggi sat up, and Spies on the outside ran out of road in the exact place where Pedrosa hopped off at the last MotoGP round on the Island. Spies, however, stayed on the bike. Keeping an eye on his gap from the leader showed that he remained 23 seconds back from first place right to the chequered flag. In other words, he was lapping at race leading pace. So he was quick, and didn't throw in the towel despite being way out of the points.

Up at the front, it was the kind of classic World Superbike race that Phillip Island always seems to produce. There was a small amount of carnage, with BMW rider Ruben Xaus punting Ten Kate Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari out of the race, and Shakey Byrne falling off his Sterilgarda Ducati all on his own. The race for the lead was frantic, with a big freight train of bikes led by Haga (who had started 13th) on the Xerox Ducati  and Max Neukirchner (who started 14th!) on the Alstare Suzuki. Punching above their weight, the likes of Leon Haslam (Honda) and Regis Laconi (Ducati) were mixing it with Michel Fabrizio's factory Ducati and Johnny Rea's Ten Kate Honda.

It all came down to a last lap thriller between Haga and Neukirchner, the Ducati being faster on the twisty bits and the Suzuki being a missile down the straight. The German looked like he might have the race won, but he lost time saving a big highside on Lukey Heights, letting Haga sneak past into MG. The Japanese star won the race by 3 hundredths of a second from the German, with Suzuki hero Yukio Kagayama taking the final podium spot.

Race Two started better for Spies, as he outrageously went round the outside of Max Biaggi's Aprilia to snatch the lead after a couple of corners. Right, so that's the questions about his racecraft answered then. It was interesting to watch Spies race at the front. Despite being a gangly guy with knees and elbows sticking out all over the place, he hangs all the way off the bike like tiny Toni Elias.

The battle for the lead involved Spies and Haga, who quickly sliced through the field from his lowly grid spot. The pair swapped the lead a couple of times, rarely separated by more than a couple of bike lengths, until finally the American put the hammer down and pulled out a bit of a gap in the last 2 or 3 laps. Haga couldn't respond, and despite the Ducati's red glare, Spies crossed the line to win his 2nd ever World Superbike race, in his first ever race meeting at Phillip Island, on the radical new Yamaha.

Biaggi, who seemed to be heading for a podium spot, slowed a bit towards the end, and nearly tangled with Haslam and Laconi on the last lap. The Roman Emperor got a taste of his own medicine as he had to run off the track to avoid his rivals. Laconi was deeply impressive on his privateer Ducati, but he lost out on 3rd place to Leon Haslam. It was an incredible result for the Pocket Rocket, giving the Stiggy team a podium in only its second race in the Superbike class and destroying their fellow Honda runners, the all-conquering Ten Kate team.

Overall, what did we learn? Haga has taken to the Xerox Ducati team like a frog to red wine, Aprilia are quick, BMW still have work to do, Regis Laconi is back, and the Haslam-Stiggy combination works a treat. But the big news is this:

There's a new Texan winning in WSBK. And this one's quiet.

MotoGP: Home Win for Stoner at Phillip Island

Casey Stoner won his home round of the MotoGP world championship at Phillip Island, Australia from pole position in bright, sunny conditions. Jorge Lorenzo and Nicky Hayden were the other front row qualifiers, while Valentino Rossi would only start from twelfth after a big crash in qualifying.

When the red lights went out, Stoner's Ducati leapt out in front to lead the pack through turn one, but Nicky Hayden was snapping at his heels on the Repsol Honda. His team-mate Dani Pedrosa was up into third, but had a bobble on the way into turn two and left the track, falling heavily on the grass but escaping with a bruised knee. Guintoli and Vermeulen also rode off the track at that turn but stayed upright and rejoined, a long way behind the pack.

James Toseland has won at Philip Island in World Superbikes, and he made an incredible start on his Tech 3 Yamaha to grab third place while the field was still shaking itself out. His Texan team-mate Colin Edwards was fourth, ahead of FIAT Yamaha's Lorenzo and LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet. Before the lap was over, Lorenzo would take fourth place. The front pair of Stoner and Hayden were already taking off into the distance.

Having fallen off a few too many times recently, Casey Stoner was back to his usual imperious form in the lead, but Nicky Hayden was all over the back of the local hero, trying to find a way round the red Ducati. Jorge Lorenzo stole third place from Toseland, but the Englishman was having his best race of the year, and stayed with his fellow Yamaha rider. Valentino Rossi was scything through the pack, but had a terrifying moment when Alex de Angelis crashed in front of him, his tumbling bike missing Rossi's by inches. The Doctor was unflustered, and soon made a stunning move as he drafted past both Edwards and Gresini Honda's Shinya Nakano on the main straight, outbraking them both into turn one.

James Toseland retook third place, passing Lorenzo into the frighteningly quick turn one, and the Spanish rookie had Rossi homing in on his rear tyre. It was now a three way Yamaha battle for third place, with Shinya Nakano and Scot Honda's Andrea Dovizioso closing in. Dovi had been dead last into the first turn of the race, having somehow been chewed up and spat out of the pack. Rossi passed Lorenzo for fourth place as they descended Lukey Heights, and now Toseland had the champion to deal with...

Read the rest of my MotoGP Phillip Island race review at Motorbikesport.

WSBK Phillip Island: Baylisstic Crashfest

The makers of motorcycle crash videos must be rubbing their hands with glee after a day of sheer carnage at Phillip Island when the World Superbikes came a-calling. Troy Bayliss emerged from the smoking wreckage around him with a dominant double victory. Here is an account of the various crashes.

Race one opened with a massive crash on the start line as Michel Fabrizio failed to get his Ducati off the front row. Instead of waving his arms around like we would expect from any self-respecting Italian, he just stood there and waited to be hit. And that's what happened. A couple of bikes narrowly missed him, but the hapless Vittorio Iannuzzo couldn't see the stalled Ducati until the last millisecond, and slammed into the back of it. Iannuzzo was lucky not to get squished by his bike, but was carted off in an ambulance with a badly broken wrist, while Fabrizio was left hopping around on one foot. Incredibly, the crash had ripped his boot off but left him with nothing more than nasty bruising to his calf muscle.

When the red flags came out, Carlos Checa slowed slightly at the top of Lukey Heights, but then he too was rear-ended by Russel Holland. The Aussie had done well in Superpole and made a decent start, but he didn't clock that Carlos was easing off. The resulting crash was enormous, with Checa flipped off his bike into the air. Luckily both riders were able to make the restart, along with the limping Fabrizio.

The restarted race one saw Bayliss win easily. The only person who really looked to have the pace to challenge was Max Biaggi, who had started from 16th because the gear shifter fell off on his outlap in Superpole. Max sliced through the field, but unfortunately got a bit too excited and fell off from 2nd place. Troy Corser fought through to snatch 2nd, while the heroic Fabrizio took an excellent 3rd place, and promptly started hamming up his injury for the cameras.

Race two started fairly uneventfully, in that nobody was taken to hospital before the end of lap 1. Troy Corser jumped the start horribly, but didn't come in for his ride-through penalty, claiming that the black flag board had a pair of number ones in two different fonts that didn't look like a number eleven. Nice excuse, but he didn't get to try it out on the race stewards because he flew off the track at turn 2, saying that there was fluid on the track. Fabrizio was amongst the riders spooked into jumping the start by Corser, but he did manage to stay on the bike long enough to suffer a ride-through.

Max Biaggi again managed to devastate the field from his lowly grid spot, but then conjured up a truly terrifying crash at turn one, which is officially more frightening than watching "Halloween" with one eyeball and old footage of Maggie Thatcher with the other. Trying to pass Fonsi Nieto's Suzuki drag-bike on the start-finish straight, Max got very, very close and had to grab a lot more front brake than he would have liked. The rear wheel lifted off the ground, the bike started to slew sideways and suddenly Max was sliding across the grass at well over 100mph. The magnificent Ducati 1098R started tumbling, and leapt a good 10 feet into the air, completely destroying itself but managing to avoid squidging its rider into seagull food. The Roman Emperor escaped with a suspected fractured wrist, and will be glad that the next race is a month away.

Troy Bayliss won race 2 in similar style to race 1, leading no less than 3 Spaniards to the line: Checa, Nieto and Xaus. Surprisingly it was Xaus who was beaten up by the others, being on the wrong end of several dodgy overtaking moves. Carlos Checa did brilliantly considering the enormous crash he had earlier in the day, showing that he isn't fazed by the lowish grip Pirelli control tyre (but this is the guy that did so well on the awful Dunlop MotoGP tyre a couple of years back). Fonsi Nieto kept up his impressive start to the season and is 2nd in the championship, albeit 27 points behind Bayliss.

Bayliss is still a superhero around Phillip Island, and the Ducati is ludicrously fast (though a few clicks slower than the fours down the straights). Biaggi was the big surprise, falling off everywhere and scoring nul points while his team-mate, Ruben Xaus of all people, stayed on track with a pair of 4ths and is 3rd in the title race. It's going to be interesting to see what happens at the tight, twisty (i.e. Ducati) track at Valencia, where Crazy Catalan Xaus scored a victory last year...

MotoGP Testing: Seagull Island Summary

Here's a roundup of last week's 3-day MotoGP test at the seagull-strewn Phillip Island circuit. Most of the players were there, except for FIAT Yamaha's Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, and crocked micro-superstar Dani Pedrosa.

Casey Stoner was terrifyingly fast. A second faster than everybody else. He probably has this year's championship sewn up already. God, I hope not.

Marco Melandri was pretty slow again, still failing to get to grips with the Ducati. This may be because he can't get used to the bike, or possibly because he wasn't injured enough. He finished 2nd in the championship when he was squished in the massive Barcelona crash. He scored a podium at Laguna Seca after having his ankle broken by Kurtis Roberts (the only rider to rival Britney Spears in the "danger to yourself and others" category.) Marco should probably have a big testing crash if he wants to start the season well.

Shock of the week was the brilliant performance of James Toseland, who finished 3rd when everybody bolted on qualifying tyres at the end of the test. It is disconcerting to see a British rider higher than 17th on the timesheets after James Ellison's many displays of mediocrity. I believe I know the reason for this. Ellison was a World Endurance Champion. Toseland, on the other hand, is an atrocious endurance rider. Riding for Honda at the Suzuka 8 hour, he crashed out after an incredible 5 minutes on track (allegedly signing for Yamaha while still in mid-air.) I didn't expect much of Toseland in his first year of MotoGP, but we might see some great performances at tracks he knows well, such as Phillip Island, Donington and Assen.

Colin Edwards was very quick at the start of the test, but was slower than Toseland by the end of it. Being in a satellite team may relieve some of the pressure on the laconic Texan, but finishing behind Toseland doesn't bode well.

Nicky Hayden took no notice of his bitchy dwarf team-mate Dani Pedrosa's claims that the Kentucky Kid is a bad development rider, putting in the 2nd best lap on qualifiers. (Only 17 minutes behind Stoner.) The new Honda still isn't all that convincing on race rubber.

It was a great test for the youngsters. Andrea Dovizioso was in the top 4 every day of the test. Dovi is my tip for top rookie this year. In 250GP last year he was always hounding his hilariously slappable rival Jorge Lorenzo, despite Dovi's Honda being way down on power compared to Lorenzo's Aprilia. The young Italian has taken to 800cc MotoGP like a duck to water.

Fellow 250cc graduate Alex de Angelis also put in some great times, although it remains to be seen whether he is ruthless enough to reach the top, having finished 2nd about a million times in 250.

It was a horrible test for Kawasaki Ninja Turtle John Hopkins. Although he started with some totally bodacious lap times in the wet, he pushed, like, too hard and totally highsided at the terrifying turn one (a corner that even Aussie V8 Supercar drivers have nightmares about, and they're sat in a 6-ton rollcage inside a 14-ton car that would demolish an office block without spilling the driver's Castlemaine XXXX.) Hopper suffered injuries to his crotch, partially ripping a muscle from the bone. Owww, Dude! He reckons on being fit enough for the big pre-season test, and you'd have to believe him because he's, like, one tough son of a beeyatch.

Team Dude's other rider Ant West struggled for pace. Surgery on a wrist injury has wrecked his training schedule, leaving him woefully short of the kind of fitness required to do a hundred laps a day for 3 days. He'll do well to get up to speed by the start of the season.

D'Antin Ducati riders Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli did alright, lapping faster than Melandri on the final day. Presumably D'Antin will receive rubbish race engines which, along with their inept mechanics, will ensure that Toni and Sylvain always finish behind Marco.

Suzuki have always been rubbish at The Island. Nothing's changed.

MotoGP Phillip Island: Stoner Semi-Snoozefest

This race review is late because I fell asleep half way through the MotoGP race at Phillip Island and only just woke up.

It started well, but yet again, the tyre-driven snoozefest virus infected the race. Dani Pedrosa had taken pole position with a searing lap of the freezing track. That little guy might not be the heart and soul of the party, but he's staggeringly quick. He has only won a single race this year, but I'm becoming more and more of a fan because he has done so well on a bike that Honda probably found in a landfill site outside Tokyo.

The race started with Ducati's trick electronics launching Stoner into the lead. In comparison, Pedrosa was racing his spare bike because when he did a practise start on his number one bike, it flipped right over and launched Dani into the air. He was unhurt, although apparently the nearby John Hopkins nearly choked to death laughing.

Stoner then held the lead for the rest of the race, blah blah amazing result, blah blah it's him not the tyres and so forth.

However, the first half of the race was actually interesting! Excellent, in fact! Nicky Hayden was on outstanding form. He always goes fast in Oz, because the track goes the wrong way and it's fast and scary. Like his old dirt-tracking days back in Kentucky. Nicky was brilliant, really hanging on to the baby-faced assassin on the Ducati in front of him. When Stoner pulled out a bit of a gap, Nicky closed it back up by the end of the lap. It looked like Stoner might be seriously pushed for a victory for the first time since Catalunya.

It was not to be. The Honda engine started to tighten up and slow down. After a couple of laps, it blew up altogether. Nicky was livid, and rightly so. He battered the tank with his fist and stomped off, ranting as if Pedrosa was responsible. It was heartbreaking to see him lose a possible win through mechanical failure.

Rossi, Melandri and Pedrosa then proceeded to beat each other up with some interesting racing. Until their tyres went off, that is. Melandri was worst off, with the left side of his tyre in shreds. Rossi kept it together better than Pedrosa. Both were conquered by the resurgent Loris Capirossi. He's usually quick at Phillip Island, but that's talking about how fast he bounces through the gravel trap and into hospital. The only riders not to run into tyre problems were Capirex and Stoner. By sheer coincidence, they both ride for Ducati, and Bridgestone tyres are developed by a test team running on a Ducati. Amazing.

Alex Barros did pretty well on his Bridgestone-shod Ducati as well, for some reason.

I'm not going to have an enormous rant about tyres, because the rules have been changed for next season. There won't be a one-tyre rule, according to those in the know, but there will be major changes. There will be more tyres available for each rider each weekend, and they won't have to be chosen until after the first practise session. That way, teams should have a clue about the ballpark they should be in as regards compounds and construction. Also, it seems that the tyre companies have been forced to supply anybody who can pony up the cash. In other words, Rossi will be on Bridgestones. Frankly, the Japanese company would be insane not to associate themselves with the lanky Italian genius, and I fully expect that they will make every effort to help him win races.

This should satisfy both the pragmatists like me who want to see some bloody racing some time this decade, and the purists who are as enthusiastic about tyre wars as the Yanks are about real wars. (Tyre warmongers?) It may even satisfy those who go completely insane when somebody mentions one-tyre rules, such as Eurosport commentator Toby Moody. When somebody says "one tyre" to him, he starts shrieking like a Victorian schoolmistress who has just copped an eyeful of Mr Darcy with his shirt off. Settle down, for God's sake.

Anyway. Phillip Island. Half a good race, half a bad one. Gutted for Nicky.

WSBK: Bayliss Bounces Back at Phillip Island

World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss bounced back from last week's Qatar nightmare with a win and a 2nd place in his home races at Phillip Island.
The popular Aussie had put the Ducati on pole position, beating James Toseland, who admitted he should have pushed harder in the middle sector, and Troy Corser, who had a couple of scary moments on his Superpole lap when he was caught by huge gusts of wind in fast corners. "Nitro" Nori Haga had taken the final front row spot, beating Max Biaggi by a few hundredths of a second.
In Race 1, Biaggi made a stunning start from row 2, briefly leading but being swallowed by the pack almost immediately. Max's last visit to Phillip Island was on an HRC MotoGP machine in 2005, when the Roman Emperor was thrown over the handlebars on lap one, with the Michelin tyres still cold. It seems that Max has not yet worked up the confidence to push hard on cold Pirellis either, as he tiptoed around the first 2 or 3 laps.
James Toseland took the lead, and produced a dominant performance as he led the field. He took a very distinctive wide, swooping line into turn 2, leaving the door wide open for those behind. However, his line was just so fast that anybody wishing to overtake would have to charge into the corner, severely compromising their exit speed.
Troy Corser was close behind, looking hungry for his first win of the season, but he had to battle with the resurgent Troy Bayliss. The two Troys beat each other up as Toseland stayed in front.
Behind them, Biaggi and Haga were having a Battle Royale, with the Roman showing that he can hold his own against WSBK's hardest racer. It was an evenly matched fight, with the two of them coming close to collision several times, but skilfully keeping the racing safe.
Up front, Corser suffered from the Yamaha curse as his rear tyre wore out, giving him a rollercoaster ride as he struggled to get the power down on the fast left-handers leading onto the start-finish straight. It was a losing battle. With his Pirelli rear completely shot, and doing its best to fire him off the bike, Corser lost out first to Biaggi then Haga.
Bayliss saw that Toseland was also struggling for grip, and overtook the Englishman with 4 laps to go, later admitting that he probably should have waited another lap or two, but it didn't matter. The Australian took the victory, but not without a hard fight. He tried to go round the outside of Toseland, who responded with a crunching manoeuvre, slamming his Honda into the side of the Aussie's Ducati, then apologising at the first opportunity to take his left hand off the bars. Bayliss persisted, taking his first victory of the year from Toseland and Biaggi.
Race 2 saw Biaggi make another lightning start to take the hole shot, but again he was too cautious into turn 1 and was completely swallowed up by the field into turn 2.
Troy Corser took advantage, and led the field for the next few laps. However, Toseland and Bayliss were again on outstanding form, and it was soon a three-way scrap between them. The Englishman took the lead, and a couple of laps later Bayliss mugged Corser for 2nd place. Haga and Corser then had to argue amongst themselves for 3rd.
Behind them, Max Biaggi had passed Ruben Xaus and, with a clear track in front of him, was lapping faster than the leaders. He had to claw back more than 2 seconds, but eventually it was a 5-man freight train at the front.
Toseland had conserved his tyres better than in race 1, and managed to pull out a gap from Bayliss. Behind them, the Suzuki of Biaggi was duking it out with the two Yamahas of Corser and Haga.
Toseland crossed the line first, for his first ever victory at Phillip Island. Bayliss had to settle for second. Biaggi, Haga and Corser came out of the last turn three abreast. Corser was pushed out onto the grass and finished 5th. Biaggi was gaining on Haga, but it was the Japanese rider who took the final podium spot, the Roman ending up in 4th.
James Toseland now leads the championship, from Biaggi then Bayliss.

MotoGP: Phillip Island Test Day 3

Nicky Hayden topped the timesheets on the final day of the Phillip Island MotoGP test, ahead of his tiny team-mate Dani Pedrosa, then a flock of Ducatis.
Honda seem to have wrung out some speed from their new bike in qualifying trim, but their pace on race tyres still needs to improve. It is interesting that Hayden managed to lap faster than Pedrosa, whose child-like body the 800cc Honda was allegedly designed for.
Ducati are still fast around Phillip Island. Capirossi, Stoner, Hofmann and Barros were separated by around 3 tenths of a second. Alex Hofmann did well to close up on his vastly more experienced d'Antin team-mate.
Suzuki's time at Phillip Island has been a nightmare. Their 800cc bike is just as mediocre around the seagull-plagued track as their 990cc machine was. Of course, their 2006 bike was designed as a testbed for the 800cc rules, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but it is still a disappointment after their impressive testing pace at other racetracks.
The next test is back at Sepang next week. All teams are expected to attend.

MotoGP: Phillip Island Test Day One

There was a surprise leader on day 1 of the Phillip Island MotoGP test. Alex Barros put the d'Antin Ducati on top of the timesheets.
Barros has been looking quick in testing so far, regularly lapping faster than the factory Ducati riders. The d'Antin machines were thought to be very similar to the factory Ducatis, but probably with less advanced electronics. In the hands of the veteran Brazilian, the customer machinery is every bit as good, if not better.
Italians will be delighted to hear that one of the equal second fastest riders was a rejuvenated Marco Melandri. Phillip Island is a great track for Marco, with his win last year. He was still behind a Ducati, though!
Capirossi posted an identical time to Melandri, showing that the factory Ducati team are making excellent progress.
The Hondas of Hayden and Pedrosa were 4th and 5th respectively, more than half a second slower than Barros. Time is ticking, and HRC still need to improve their new bike if their tiny hero Dani Pedrosa is going to win the title according to plan.
It was a disappointing day for Suzuki, who discovered that they are still slow around The Island. Hopkins was 8th and Vermeulen 11th. To be very fast at Sepang and Valencia, but slow at Phillip Island, suggests that the Suzuki boys will have a patchy season this year.
Yamaha and Valentino Rossi are absent from the Australian test. Presumably they are not too worried about their pace on this track, as Valentino Rossi is always extremely quick there, and in fact could probably qualify on the front row riding a donkey.

MotoGP: Phillip Island Test Preview

The MotoGP testing season moves on to Australia now, with a visit to the Phillip Island track. This will be an interesting test, as we will find out whether the lessons learned at Sepang will transfer to a different track.
Yamaha, Kawasaki and Ilmor have not travelled Down Under, with Yamaha testing in private and Ilmor having recently finished a test in Spain.
This will be a crucial test for Suzuki, who have excelled so far this year, and for Ducati and Honda, who have both struggled.
Suzuki have fared poorly at the Island in recent years, apart from Vermeulen's podium in the crazy dry/wet/dry race last year. If they can reproduce their Sepang form here, they will surely be regular podium visitors in the year to come, and their two hard-charging young riders may even win a race or two.
Honda have had a terrible start to the year. So far at least, their new V4 engine is a dog. All Honda riders have complained about the lack of power, and the power delivery. As Phillip Island is a traditional Honda/Michelin track, they will be demanding a dominant performance at this test. Finishing a second behind Suzuki at Sepang is deeply worrying, but for the same to happen in Australia would be a disaster. The race season is gradually drawing closer, and Honda must start closing the gap to Suzuki and Yamaha soon.
Ducati have struggled with their fancy electronic package, but a simpler version of the bike has been impressive in the hands of the new d'Antin rider Alex Barros. Casey Stoner, who still doesn't look a day over 12 years old, has been one of the quickest riders in a straight line, so the Italian team do not lack power. Their problem seems to be in the power delivery, and that should be fixable by tinkering with the electronics.
When the testing times start to come in, all eyes will be on Suzuki.