From a press release issued by Dorna, compiled by Dr. Martin Raines:

MotoGP

· Sete Gibernau starts from pole for the fifth time in 2004. Gibernau’s fourth place
finish at Phillip Island last year is his best ever result at the circuit.

· Valentino Rossi, who has won for the last three years at Phillip Island, can guarantee
winning the title by finishing in second place. If Rossi finishes in the top three it will be
his 100th podium finish in all classes of Grand Prix racing in what will be his 139th start.

· Loris Capirossi starts from the front row for just the second time in 2004 and is
currently the only Ducati rider to qualify on the front row this year. Capirossi has
finished on the podium at Phillip Island three times in the last four years.

· Fourth place on the grid for Colin Edwards represents his best ever qualifying
performance in MotoGP.

· Makoto Tamada has scored 112 points over the last eight races and has been second
only to Valentino Rossi in this time.

· After his third place finish in Malaysia, Alex Barros will be aiming to score back-toback
podiums for the first time since 2002.

· Max Biaggi has finished on the podium in the premier-class at Phillip Island on three
occasions, including the only non-Honda victory at this circuit in 2000 with Yamaha.

· Alex Hofmann’s eighth place on the grid is his best ever qualifying result, his previous
best being eleventh place at Assen earlier this year.

· If any of the Honda riders finish on the podium, the Japanese manufacturer will win the
MotoGP constructors title even if a Yamaha rider wins the race. Honda are aiming for
their sixteenth MotoGP constructors title, the same number as won by MV-Agusta.


250cc

· Sebastian Porto starts from pole position for the ninth time in 2004. The only race in
which Porto has not started on the front row was at Motegi.

· Porto’s pole position time is the fastest ever lap of Phillip Island by a 250cc machine.

· Alex De Angelis starts from the front row for the seventh time in 2004, his debut
season in the class.

· Manuel Poggiali, who won the 125cc race at Phillip Island in 2002, starts from the
front row for the first time since Rio, a race he went on to win. Poggiali has scored a
total of only 16 points in the seven races since then.

· At the age of 19 years and 18 days, Dani Pedrosa needs to score just two points to
become the youngest ever rider to win the 250cc title and the youngest ever rider to
win world titles in two different classes.

· Chaz Davies starts from tenth place on the grid, his best ever qualifying result in
Grand Prix racing. His previous best was twelfth at Donington earlier this year and at
Motegi in 2003.


125cc

· Roberto Locatelli starts from pole for the first time since Phillip Island in 2000, the
year in which he won the 125cc World Championship.

· Jorge Lorenzo starts from the front row for the sixth time in 2004.

· Casey Stoner’s first victory of the season at Sepang was also the first ever victory
for KTM. Stoner was leading at Phillip Island last year when he crashed on lap six.

· Following his victory at Sepang, if Casey Stoner wins the 125cc race at the Australian
GP he will end a record sequence of thirty-seven races without a rider in the 125cc
class winning back-to-back races, since Arnaud Vincent won at Donington and then
Sachsenring in 2002.

· Steve Jenkner, who starts from the front row for the fifth time this year, has not had
a podium finish since the second race of the year at Jerez.

· New World Champion Andrea Dovizioso has failed to qualify for the front row for the
first time since June at Catalunya.

· With two races still to go Dovizioso has already scored 248 points, the sixth highest
point total of all time in the 125cc class. The only riders who have scored more points
in a full season in the 125cc class are; Valentino Rossi (1997 – 321 points), Dirk
Raudies (1993 – 280 points), Arnaud Vincent (2002 – 273 points), Kazuto Sakata
(1993 – 266 points), Manuel Poggiali (2002 – 254 points).

· Gino Borsoi starts from his best grid position since the British GP at Donington in
2002, when he started from fifth on the grid.