They are all top competitors in the Australian 250cc GP or 125cc GP championships, and will have the experience of a lifetime when they join the world's best riders on track at the Grand Prix.

Peter Taplin, Russell Holland and Earl Lynch will compete in the 250cc GP class, joining Stoner - who has already made an impact on the world scene as the youngest rider score 250cc world championship points.

Peter Holmes, Tim Inkster and Jeremy Crowe will fly the flag for Australia in the 125cc Grand Prix.

It will be the world debut for all except Lynch, who had a wildcard at last year's Grand Prix.  No wildcards have been named in the new-look MotoGP category, but veteran full-time international racer Garry McCoy, from Camden on the outskirts of Sydney, will be on the grid aboard his 500cc Yamaha.

Kawasaki is expected to have its Japanese test rider, Akira Yanagawa, on its new four-stroke machine as a wildcard at Phillip Island, before it enters the championship full-time next year.

Australia's triple American Superbike champion, Mat Mladin, had hoped for a wildcard aboard a four-stroke Suzuki but that is looking a long shot. 

Meanwhile, teenager Russell Holland's career goal is not just to be a world motorcycling champion, but to achieve that feat more than once. He's already ridden one race as partner with 1987 500cc world champion Wayne Gardner in the Moriwaki 80 three-hour endurance race at Eastern Creek karting track in 1999.

"I won two of my three stages in the junior class, and Wayne did one stage in the seniors, but he had to leave in a hurry," Holland said. "His wife went into labour, which is a pretty good excuse!"

Since then, Holland, 18, from Marulan, near Goulburn, south-west of Sydney, has gained valuable international racing experience in two rounds of the Asian 600cc Supersport Championship in Malaysia and China, and was runner-up in the Australian 250cc Production and Aprilia Challenge championships last year.

In his debut Australian 250cc GP season, and with just four years of racing history, Holland has won five of the six races he has contested. He missed two others due to injury, but is second in the championship. Holland scored a win and a second in the 250cc Production national support races at last year's Grand Prix and thinks a 250cc GP world championship point is not out of the question this year.

"It would be fantastic to finish in the top 15 and score a point, and if everything goes well it's possible," Holland said.

In the past year Holland has stepped up his physical training to match his dedication to racing. A chance encounter in Italian 2000 125cc world champion Roberto Locatelli's garage at last year's Grand Prix steered him in the direction of Melbourne-based trainer, Bruce Gray, who looks after his fitness program.

"In the support races last year I had Locatelli's livery on my helmet," Holland said. "He must have noticed and invited me to have a look in his team garage as I was obviously a fan. I felt like a little boy in a toy shop, I just wanted to touch everything."

Other visitors to the garage put Holland in touch with Gray, a Melbourne gym owner, who devised a fitness program for him.  "I do a lot of gym work, running and push-bike riding," Holland said. "I go down to Melbourne to revise the program about once every two months, but otherwise we keep in touch via e-mail and on the phone. "I'm going to do three weeks of intensive training in Melbourne just before the GP to really psyche myself up."

Earl Lynch, a 2001 wildcard, has "unfinished business" at Phillip Island. The 31-year-old from Yatala, south of Brisbane, failed to qualify for last year's 250cc Grand Prix after some set-up changes to his bike caused a string of problems. The reigning national 250cc GP champion, Lynch is determined to set things right this year.

"I was gutted at the time, but this year it will be different," Lynch said. "I didn't know what to expect being at such a huge event, but this year I'll know what's going on and be a lot more organised, and a lot more relaxed."

Lynch hopes to borrow a better bike off national 250cc GP rival Mark Rowling, a fellow wildcard in 2001. "He has a newer bike which is ready to go," Lynch said. "Plus he qualified last year, so hopefully that will rub off on me."

West Australian Peter Taplin leads the Australian 250cc GP championship. A sales manager in a Perth motorcycle dealership, Taplin, 26, completed his first full season in the national 125cc championship last year, finishing a respectable fifth.  His racing career started in BMX bikes, before he switched to engine power in the West Australian Supersport category and then the WA 125cc championship, which he has won for the past five years.

"I've only raced at Phillip Island a couple of times, so it's going to be interesting," Taplin said.  "I haven't even been to a GP as a spectator before, so I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like.

"I think seeing Marco Melandri (Italian 250cc star) race will be pretty amazing, especially as I'll be on track with him."

Jeremy Crowe first mounted a motorcycle when he was four, and has never looked back.  Like new international star Stoner, Crowe, 17, from Condobolin in central New South Wales, started his long career in dirt bikes.  Indeed, he and Stoner used to race each other. After dirt-track and long-track events throughout 1998-99 - notching up numerous State titles and lots of wins, including a couple over Stoner.

Crowe realised he liked the higher-speed racing.  At 14 he rode a Moriwaki 80 and loved it, prompting a move to road racing and two successful years in the junior series, including winning last year's Victorian Junior Road Race Championship and the four-round Australian GP 80 Masters.  A year 11 student at Condobolin High, Crowe was invited to attend training camps at the Australian Institute of Sport.

"It was a great experience," Crowe said. "I learnt a lot about the science of sport, things like psychology, physiotherapy and nutrition.

"Hopefully it will help with my wildcard at the Grand Prix, as that is definitely the biggest event in my career so far.

"Realistically, it will be a big achievement just to qualify for the GP. Being on the same track, and racing with the likes of Manuel Poggiali (reigning world 125cc champion from San Marino) will be awesome."

Apart from Crowe's parents, one of his teachers is also planning the trip to Phillip Island to cheer him on.  "My history teacher is a big MotoGP fan and is going to be at the Grand Prix, which is great. First, it will be fun to have him watching, and second, I know I won't have any history homework that weekend!"

Peter Holmes, 22, from Red Hill on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, is in just his second year of racing but is a man with a mission. Growing up on a farm, riding dirt bikes was a part of life, but it was not until two years ago that Holmes bought his first road bike and threw himself into the 2001 Australian 125cc championship.

A fast learner, he achieved his first goal of finishing in the top 10 of the championship. The goal for year two was to score a wildcard to the Grand Prix. That mission is now accomplished.

A motorcycle mechanic by trade, Holmes has a lot of 'insider information'. "I'm sure it helps being a mechanic," Holmes said. "I obviously understand how the bike works, and can give a lot of feedback to Jerry Dennis, my technician."

Dennis is a veteran race mechanic, with 11 years' experience on the world circuit, including a season working with American triple 500cc world champion, Wayne Rainey.  Dennis' full-time commitment to Holmes has been instrumental in scoring the wildcard.

"Peter has a good feel for the bike, and we talk the same language," Dennis said. "What we need to do now is focus on the GP and make sure Peter can stay concentrated on his racing the entire weekend."

Tim Inkster's racing career is a family affair. The 22-year-old from Aldinga Beach, south of Adelaide, counts his parents and sister as his biggest fans - and best support. Inkster and his sister grew up following their parents around race tracks watching father John race.

Since then life has come full circle, and now the family follows Tim as he competes in the national 125cc championship and various South Australian titles.  A former racer and bike mechanic, John Inkster, and his wife, Helen, are Tim's dedicated pit crew, with his sister, Nikki, lending a hand when work commitments permit.

The collaboration of father and son has given Inkster a sound knowledge of the mechanics and set-up of a bike, and taught him to make the most of personal ability and machine. Apart from watching her son on track, his mum is the administrative arm of the team, organising travel and accommodation, plus publishing a team newsletter.

"They're really supportive, which is a huge help," Inkster said. "Dad has taught me a lot. Even though bikes have changed a lot since he was racing, he still has lots of knowledge and skills.

"We hope to sort out some new kit for the bike for the GP, otherwise it's going to be tough.

"I can't have too high expectations as just qualifying will be hard enough."

Inkster began racing in the less-expensive Superlights category three years ago, spending time learning the national circuits and his race craft, before embarking this year on his first full season in the 125cc championship.

He combines his racing with his own business, Goanna-Go Bike Skinz, which manufactures motorcycle race and road fairings. "It's a good business to be in, especially when I have a crash - I can repair my own fairings," Inkster said.

Motorcycle racing wasn't always his sole passion. As a teenager he played a lot of tennis and won numerous club tournaments. Despite being about the same age, and from the same state, he doesn't recall ever having a hit with world number one Lleyton Hewitt. "You'd think I'd remember if I did ever play him," Inkster said.

• Sep 24 - News - Exciting 15 year old Mildura 125 GP competitor Josh Waters has secured an FIM wildcard entry in to the Australian GP on a TSR Honda, he will join the MA nominated wildcards