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Phillip Island

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The Lusail International Circuit is to undergo major renovation work at the end of 2022 and into 2023, to upgrade the facilities and paddock.

As a result, it will relinquish its position as the first race of the MotoGP season, instead being moved back to the end of the year.

With Qatar out of the frame as the first race of 2023, this hugely increases the chances of Phillip Island as the first race of the season.

Episode 133 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one comes to us again from the WorldSBK paddock, as Steve English and Gordon Ritchie talk about the season-opening round at Phillip Island.

A special early episode (we’ll have another show for you on Thursday, of course), the guys talk about the exciting racing action from Australia, which saw some surprise finishes and promises good things for the season ahead.

The show also includes snippets of audio from riders, including Alex Lowes, Scott Redding, and Toprak Razgatlıoğlu.

Episode 132 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one comes to us from the WorldSBK paddock, as Steve English and Gordon Ritchie join us from Phillip Island, just ahead of the season-opening round.

As you would expect, the duo catches us up on the pre-season happenings in the production class, and give us a preview of things to come from the Australian round.

Episode 122 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a MotoGP show, as we catch back up with the premier class on its flyaway rounds at Japan, Malaysia, and Australia.

As such, this means that we see Neil Morrison and David Emmett on the mics, as they are our MotoGP Championship reporting duo for the 2019 season.

As you can imagine, there is no shortage of things for them to talk about, especially as we head into the final round of the season, at Valencia.

The elements prevailed in the end. The weather gods threw rain and wind at the Phillip Island circuit on Friday, and after showing their power to pose real peril to the riders, the riders and Dorna surrendered to a power greater than them.

The very strong gusting wind was just too dangerous to make riding at the Australian circuit safe.

Miguel Oliveira’s crash was the last straw. The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider was caught out by the changing wind in the early part of FP4, got pushed wide on the entry to the terrifyingly fast first corner, and took a massive tumble through the gravel.

It looked like a huge crash, and Oliveira was very lucky to come away with no broken bones, though he had heavy bruising on his arm and hand.

“I was slipstreaming Zarco and at that point I was a little bit more close to the left side of the track,” Oliveira said.

“And from the morning to the afternoon the wind just completely changed the way and was really sideways going onto the straight. I rolled off to let Johann pass and when I braked, I braked completely sideways and the wind just pushed me out of the track.”