Three to go: MotoGP Round 16 - Phillip Island Preview

Phillip Island is one of the old school tracks. It wasn't designed with "prime spectator location" in mind, it isn't a Tilke-based safety fest, it's a proper racing track, where proper racing happens and proper racers test themselves. It's a beaut. I'd love to show you an on-board lap, but MotoGP have disabled embedding for their on-board laps. So instead, here's a couple of rewind videos.

That first one includes some of the very best of Dani Pedrosa and Marco Simoncelli, great memories.

Here's a Google map of the circuit.

And yes, that is the sea.

In The News

Our thoughts are with Alex De Angelis, who suffered a big crash at Motegi, and is still in hospital with a cranial bleed, and several broken vertebra. He is stable in intensive care, and has been talking to his family.

As a result of this, the MotoGP riders' council is meeting on Friday to discuss safety at Motegi, as Pol Espargaro also narrowly avoided serious injury after hitting a very close safety barrier in Sunday's race.

Here's a confirmed list of riders for 2016.

Championship Chances

MotoGP can not end this weekend. Even with a Jorge Lorenzo retirement, Rossi could only be 43 points ahead with 50 to play for. The Italian is 18 points ahead, and can finish second to Lorenzo wins in the last three races and still take the title.

Danny Kent CAN win the Moto3 title on Sunday though. He sits 56 points clear of Enea Bastianini, and his far superior win record (six wins to Bastianini's one) means he can finish six points behind the Italian on Sunday and win the world title. So, should Bastianini finish third and Kent sixth, the Brit would take the title. If Kent finishes ahead of him, even by a point, then the trophy is his. Similarly, should Bastianini fail to finish, Kent takes the title.

Last time out

Crashes were the theme of the whole weekend in Motegi. Here's the recap.

Race Times

Another oddly-timed race weekend, good luck if you're attempting to stay up or get up for it.

We'll have a recap up sometime on Sunday afternoon, work commitments mean I won't be able to watch live.