Casey Stoner leads criticism as Phillip Island’s MotoGP exit draws reaction

MotoGP announced on Thursday that the Australian Grand Prix will move to Adelaide in 2027, as Phillip Island’s contract draws to a close this year.

Rumours about a possible relocation of the Australia event to Albert Park in Melbourne had been circulating for some months. It was a proposal that, on paper, seemed to lack all logic. With the contract of the local promoter, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, expiring at the end of 2026, the Victorian government had promised to invest money to improve the facilities at Phillip Island – something it had refused to carry out for 10 years, despite requests from MotoGP.

The news has caught politicians and the local promoter by surprise, who thought that threats from Dorna, now renamed as MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group, were nothing more than that. However, the championship’s management has worked with the utmost discretion to secure a replacement for Phillip Island.

On Thursday morning, it presented the new layout track in Adelaide in the presence of the local authorities and Jack Miller, the only Australian representative in MotoGP, who gave his ‘OK’ to the supposed safety of the street circuit.

The last three frenetic days have set social media on fire, with a wide majority of motorcycling fans crying out over losing the iconic Australian layout, but, without a doubt, the most striking reaction came from former MotoGP star Casey Stoner.

The Queenslander has not let pass any opportunity to say his piece on any issue related to MotoGP since he retired early in 2012, and made it clear he was unimpressed with the decision.

“MotoGP to take Phillip Island off the calendar!,” Stoner, who won six races at Phillip Island between 2007 and ’12, wrote on Instagram.

“One of the greatest Motorcycle circuits in the entire world that has produced some of the greatest and most entertaining races we have witnessed, and continues to do so year after year, is being pushed to the side in place of a race in Adelaide and supposedly a street circuit…

“Why would MotoGP take possibly their best circuit off the calendar…I’ll let everyone decide.”

Gardner blames the local government

Another icon of Australian motorcycling, Wayne Gardner, directed his anger over the loss of the MotoGP grand prix at Phillip Island toward the local organisers.

“I’ve just heard the news. I’m not surprised if I’m honest,” the 1987 500cc champion told ABC Radio. “This has been coming for some years.

“The Victorian government have a reputation of winning, losing, disappearing, and then they come back, and then they go again, and it’s just on and off.

“I’m kind of sad and disappointed, but I’m not surprised by the antics of the Victorian government and the AGP Corp.”

Asked whether he was going to retrieve the statue erected in his honour at the track, Gardner replied: “I might jam it up their arses, actually…”

Miller believes Adelaide will be safe

In addition to MotoGP sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta and the local authorities, Pramac rider Miller was also present at the event in Adelaide.

“There won’t be a concrete barrier or an air fence in touching distance,” Miller said on Thursday. “I fully trust Carlos [Ezpeleta] and their calculations.

“We sit every Friday afternoon and have a meeting with them and discuss queries that we have, whether it be track safety, run-off area, depth of gravel or gravel consistency, down to literally the size of the rocks.

“They have an incredible array of knowledge when it comes to crashing and how much time you need to stop, and all of the data from the g-force sensors, with the airbag leather suit.

“They’re able to track all of this so much and it’s all been banked, and they have all of this data to then look at and basically make their assumptions from there.

“[The] majority of the new tracks that we’ve gone to have been designed with that in mind. The worry of hitting a wall is always there, if your brakes [fail] or whatever. But in terms of a normal day-to-day crash, [there are] no [safety concerns].”

That said, Miller admitted that the MotoGP grid was going to miss the fluidity of Phillip Island, though not the climate of the area and the price to pay to go and watch the races there.

“Everybody will be deeply disappointed,” he said. “Phillip Island has been one of the favourites for a very, very long time in terms of riders.

“It is extremely sad, but we’re here looking at an extremely exciting project for not only Adelaide, or South Australia, but for Australia in general.

“It’s no secret that the weather in Phillip Island is hit and miss. That wind comes from the south, it gets cold real quick. But I believe here in Adelaide, you get a good experience of the Australian heat, especially in November. It will be beautiful.”

Photo by: MotoGP

Miller is aligned with MotoGP’s objectives of attracting a greater number of fans to the show.

“The biggest thing for us is getting people to come and watch,” he said.

“To get to Philip Island is an undertaking for the average punter. Times are getting tougher and tougher.

“To go to Melbourne, to rent a car, to transit your whole family out to the island, rent a house, it’s upwards of six, seven thousand [dollars]. I know that from my family doing it year in, year out. It’s hard for a young family to get out and take the kids to watch a motorcycle race.

“You speak to people and it’s cheaper to go to Malaysia, simple as that, because it is right next to the airport.

“To try and get those people that want to come, but they’ve don’t have the means to, when you can come to the city, you can walk around, you can walk and see the track and watch the racing and get on a plane and go back home, it helps.

“Australians love motorsport, and live sport in general, so to the access like they’re going to get here in Adelaide, I think is phenomenal.”

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– The Motorsport.com Team

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