MotoGP 2005

Max Biaggi and team-mate Nicky Hayden head south this weekend for the next instalment of the fascinating fight for honours in this years 2005 MotoGP World Championship.

Biaggi has held second place in the riders’ standing since the summer break but after the non-score at Qatar during the last GP when his RC211V developed an electrical problem, his lead has been cut to two points over compatriot and fellow Honda-mounted Marco Melandri.

Hayden, after a storming podium in the heat of Doha at the last GP, now lies only two points behind Colin Edwards (Yamaha) and nine behind his team-mate and with three races left (Phillip Island, Istanbul and Valencia) and 75 points available, the race for second place will go down to the wire.

Both Repsol Honda riders have tasted success at the picturesque Australian circuit situated two hours south of Melbourne. Biaggi took victory in the premier class at the undulating 4.448km track in 2000 and has stood on the podium on several other occasions. Hayden memorably took his first MotoGP podium in his opening season on his way to earning the Rookie of the Year Award.

As soon as the race is finished on Sunday the whole paddock will be packing up ready for shipping to Turkey for the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix to be held in Istanbul on the following weekend (23rd October) with the final end of season curtain-call at Valencia on November 6th.

Max Biaggi - "All I can really hope for is that we can find something good for this weekend. It has been really hard over the last few races. I just can't understand why things change so much. One race the bike is great like at Motegi. We get a great podium and at last I feel that there is some hope for the rest of the season, then we go to Sepang where I usually go well and it was a disaster as it was in Doha. I wish we can find a good solution for Phillip Island. I have won there in the past and for sure it is an amazing circuit to win at. Every view is just like a post card; it is spectacular and I only hope that from Friday morning in first qualifying we can report back some good news to give my fan club, who are always so supportive, something to be proud of."

Nicky Hayden - “Phillip Island is a fantastic place. It was somewhere I had heard of when I was a kid and I was so excited to go there for the first time testing back at the start of 2003. It's a real riders track. If you like riding bikes fast then you have to like it there. The last long fast left hand turn onto the start finish straight is one of my favourite corners on any track in the world. But it's not just the track; it's the atmosphere around the place as well and of course it was the circuit I stood on a MotoGP podium first as well which has special memories. This weekend I'm just focused on getting off to a good start early. It hasn't happened recently and I guess we just got lucky with the race day set-up at Doha as we hadn't been too good up to there. I moved up in the points table with the podium and further up is where I want to finish. It's all pretty tight and these last few races are going to be so competitive."

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