Ahead of the 30th and final instalment of the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island<\/a> \u2013 a run only interrupted by a six-year sidestep at Eastern Creek in Sydney in the 90s and a two-year pandemic pause in 2020-21 \u2013 there\u2019s been no shortage of races, champions, and moments that range from brilliant to baffling and everywhere in between. <\/p>\n The only guarantee is that, on this final weekend, nostalgia won\u2019t be in short supply. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n VICTORY, MISERY, IRONY<\/a> Miller reflects on Phillip Island rollercoaster ride as MotoGP finale looms<\/p>\n \u2018FAREWELL, NOT A FUNERAL\u2019<\/a> Inside MotoGP\u2019s goodbye to Phillip Island, and why Adelaide could be \u2018sensational\u2019<\/p>\n What were the signature moments over the past 37 years? What\u2019s the first thing that comes to mind when you mention a rider\u2019s name and Australia? Which wins by the locals \u2013 and there\u2019s been 11 of them so far across all three championship classes \u2013 stand out most? <\/p>\n Coming up with a list of inclusions was easy, because there were so many, and hard \u2026 because there were too many. <\/p>\n The best moments? That\u2019s for you to decide. Here at Fox Sports, we\u2019ve divided them into three distinct categories.<\/p>\n THE AUSSIES<\/p>\n They share eight premier-class world titles between them, and their names flow together like a perfect start to a lap of the Island \u2013 (Wayne) Gardner Straight into (Mick) Doohan Corner at turn one, and eventually to (Casey) Stoner Corner at turn three. <\/p>\n But if we\u2019re re-ranking the three Aussie giants of the sport\u2019s Island age \u2013 the championship debuted at the Island after (and largely because of) Gardner\u2019s 1987 title, while Doohan (five titles) and Stoner (two) topped the world once the Australian GP became a calendar staple \u2013 it\u2019s Stoner who has to sit atop the list.<\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Michael and Matt review the last-lap drama at the Bathurst 1000 which saw Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood sweep to victory, look back at Max Verstappen\u2019s flawless F1 win in Singapore, and consider the MotoGP state of play after Marco Bezzecchi won for Aprilia in Indonesia. | Listen to <\/a>Pit Talk<\/a> | Watch the podcast<\/a> on YouTube<\/p>\n When you win your home Grand Prix six years in a row as Stoner did from 2007-12 \u2013 and lead 160 of 162 laps \u2013 finding magical moments for King Casey isn\u2019t tough. His 2007 win, the race after he\u2019d won that year\u2019s title in Japan, was more coronation than contest, while arguably his day of days came in 2011, when he won the race for the fifth time running and secured the title on his 26th birthday. <\/p>\n A final win in 2012, in his penultimate Grand Prix before retiring, was the icing on a very large cake. <\/p>\n For six straight years before his retirement, Stoner was untouchable at his home GP. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n Doohan, for all his success elsewhere, won at the Island just once in 1998, two of his three AGP wins coming at Eastern Creek, while his 1997 final-round Island DNF was his only result outside the top two \u2013 think about that \u2013 all season.<\/p>\n Gardner, of course, was pivotal to Australia even having a world championship round in the first place, and didn\u2019t disappoint when the race came to the resurrected Island circuit. <\/p>\n His 1989 win on the Island\u2019s debut \u2013 and the image of wife Donna, in heels, running up the start-finish straight to greet him \u2013 was the Australian GP\u2019s first signature moment, while his victory a year later, racing with a broken wrist and a damaged bike after he nearly high-sided early on, is the one of his 18 premier-class wins he believes was his best. <\/p>\n Wayne Gardner winning the first Australian GP at the Island – and wife Donna running to greet him – was a signature moment. (photo by Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a pair of wins 11 years apart for two riders passing one another in the MotoGP revolving door, too.<\/p>\n Jack Miller\u2019s 2014 Moto3 win<\/a> was nearly as wild and chaotic as the post-race celebrations it sparked, while Senna Agius\u2019 2025 Moto2 masterclass<\/a> \u2013 where he left the rest of the field for dead \u2013 was less dramatic but just as impressive, and prompted the beginnings of the discussions that he could be Miller\u2019s Aussie successor before long, which he will be in 2027<\/a>. <\/p>\n A 19-year-old Jack Miller celebrated in style when he won the Moto3 race at the Island in 2014. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n THE LEGENDS<\/p>\n Legendary rides from legendary riders who don\u2019t have Aussie passports? There\u2019s been several, but the two most successful riders of MotoGP\u2019s era that included the Island stand out, both separately and \u2013 inevitably, given their history \u2013 together. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n EXPLAINER<\/a> Why F1 icon paired 2027 Aussie rookie with \u2018very smart\u2019 Italian<\/p>\n \u2018TOTALLY AGAINST IT\u2019 <\/a> Rider rebellion over bizarre fines, team orders could swing title fight<\/p>\n No rider has won more times at the Island than Valentino Rossi, who stood atop the rostrum eight times, six times in the premier class. <\/p>\n Two wins 11 years apart are memorable. In 2003, \u2018The Doctor\u2019 was given a 10-second time penalty for passing under yellow flags after an early-race crash elsewhere in the field; the Italian great simply went fast enough for it not to matter, crossing the line 15.212secs ahead of compatriot Loris Capirossi, which equated to a comfortable five-second win once his penalty was applied. <\/p>\n \u201cI closed my eyes for the last 10 laps, I never made a race at 100 per cent before all the time,\u201d he quipped. <\/p>\n Rossi found another level when he had to overcome a penalty to win in 2003. (Photo by Mark Dadswell\/Getty Images).Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n If 2003 was a power-flex \u2013 it was the middle of a sequence of five straight Rossi wins in Australia \u2013 his final Island victory in 2014 was one out of the box. With Marquez winning his second MotoGP title the round before in Japan, the Spaniard let loose and was leading by four seconds when he crashed at turn 10 on lap 18, Rossi gleefully sweeping up the crumbs to extend an Island win total that may never be broken. <\/p>\n As for Marquez? That 2014 gaffe came after he\u2019d been disqualified from the 2013 event for not taking a pit stop in a prescribed window, the abrasive new track surface shredding tyres and enforcing a mid-race bike change on either lap 9 or 10; Marquez mistakenly came in after 11 laps and was forced to the sidelines. <\/p>\n Of Marquez\u2019s four premier-class Island wins, there\u2019s only one candidate for the most significant. <\/p>\n In 2015, the one year he didn\u2019t win the title in his first seven MotoGP seasons, Marquez came out victorious in a race considered by many to be the best ever at any track. <\/p>\n Marquez, Rossi, Lorenzo and Iannone had a battle for the ages in 2015, one that prompted an aftermath still felt today. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n The front four (Marquez, Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Iannone) made 52 overtakes between themselves alone before Marquez went from third to first on the final lap, with Rossi later accusing the Spaniard of helping compatriot (and Rossi\u2019s teammate) Lorenzo in his bid to win the world title, with Marquez mathematically out of contention. <\/p>\n The next race? Malaysia, and the Rossi\/Marquez feud that erupted at Sepang, one that caused untold controversy and continues to simmer to this day. <\/p>\n Marquez still getting booed at tracks in Italy 11 years later? It all began with Australia 2015 \u2026<\/p>\n THE UNEXPECTED<\/p>\n Marquez falls into this category, too \u2013 and in a post-covid period where every Australian Grand Prix seems to throw up something strange. <\/p>\n In 2024, in his first year with Gresini Ducati after turning his back on Honda following six titles, Marquez somehow managed to throw one of his own helmet visor tear-offs beneath his rear wheel before the start of the race, tossing it aside as the riders lined up, but instantly horrified when he realised the sliver of plastic had lodged itself under his rear tyre. <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792542734_181_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n