Results of Australian GP from Phillips Island

Sweet Jesus!!! The entire race made my head hurt....

First of all, after some hurried speculation in and around the warm up lap, it was finally delcared a "Wet Race". Okay, no big deal.. it's happened before. The riders chose to stay on grid with their dry track set-ups since it wasn't raining too hard at the time in hopes that the weather would hold off.

Shinya Nikano had a spectacular start. He shot off the line and spent the first several laps cementing his lead. I think he was leading by over 4 seconds. Nicky Hayden found himself desperately losing ground after his brilliant pole postition start, and had slipped back to 16th. His teammate Dani Pedrosa, was enjoying a much more productive ride up in the top 5. Rossi was doing what Rossi does, and was steadily improving his position with every lap... creeping up on the podium. The dry leg of the race was what you would have expected to see in every way... except for Nicky. Then the rains came.....

A few of the "rearward" riders went in early to switch to their bikes that were set up for the wet track, warmed up and waiting for them in the paddock. A lap or two later, the rest of the group went in for the switch... except for Shinya Nikano, who stayed out on his slicks in attempts to solidify his lead. A good idea, in theory, but it ended up backfiring on him in the end.

The race continued, finding Sete Giberanu at the head of the class. Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden had a short head-to-head shoot-out just outside of the top 5 riders, which proved to be entertaining. Marco Milandri found his groove, and quickly found his way up to the top 3, as did Australia's very own Chris Vermeulen. Colin Edwards crashed out at some point, but there was very little even mentioned about it. A two second shot of them putting him on a stretcher, and nothing else was ever said about the incident.

In the end, the role reversed for Nicky and Dani, landing Nick in a decent 5th place finish, and Dani - after being lapped by almost the entire herd of riders - in a disappointing 15th. I was sure Rossi was going to finish just out of the top 3, but in an amazing last-ditch effort, he bulleted past Sete Gibernau to clinch 3rd. He overtook him just INCHES from the finish line. Marco Melandri secured an impressive win, and the hometown favorite, Chris Vermeulen found himself a nice spot on the podium in 2nd. Casey Stoner, another home boy, finished a respectable 6th. Shinya, who was running away with the race initially, ended up 8th. Subsequently, the focus on the battle for the championship has turned towards Hayden and Rossi, which is what everyone has been waiting for.... **** cue the evil laughter *****

It was an interesting race. It's certainly worth watching the coverage on SpeedTV this afternoon if you have an hour to kill and you are not prone to seizures.

I'm off to update rider profiles...

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)