A street circuit! We'll come
back to that. But this is not the
first time Phillip Island has lost
the bike GP. After the first two
blissful years there, 1989 and
1990 (both narrowly won by
Wayne Gardner), the race migrat
-
ed to Sydney's bland and sterile
Eastern Creek for six years, a
move that only increased the
paddock's yearning for the fast
sweepers and spectacular nature
of the island circuit.
The 1997 return felt like com
-
ing home.
Oh, there were shortcom-
ings. Facilities were primitive,
the location rather quaint, and
the accommodation likewise.
The weather was wicked. Barry
Sheene called it "the world capi
-
tal of hypothermia."
But the racing, oh, the racing.
Here was a track that brought
all the best old-school virtues
to modern racing. Fast and
P
hillip Island gone! Three
words that strike dread
into the heart. It's like
canceling Mozart or the Beatles.
Taking internationally revered
classics and destroying them.
Replace JS Bach with atonal
rap, Shakespeare with low-brow
reality TV.
Or in the case of Australia's
classic seaside track, with a
long-redundant ex-F1 street
circuit instead.
P146
CN IIIN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHILLIP ISLAND FINISHED
AT LEAST THE PENGUINS WILL BE PLEASED
Sad times. MotoGP
gave the iconic Phillip
Island circuit the boot.
