It's Casey's race… or is it?

Jorge Lorenzo is one who is extolling the virtues of the Aussie, and you’d think the latest man to be crowned world champion would know what he’s talking about.

“It seems as if it’s going to be Casey’s race, (but) we must be prepared to fight with him. It seems we have a good pace for tomorrow, better than the rest of the riders - apart from Casey,” said the Spanish Yamaha star after qualifying second behind Stoner’s Ducati rocketship.

He wasn’t exactly in full combat mode when he added: “You don’t need any more points, so you don’t want to make any mistakes – and you don’t want to crash. You have some more margin when before you didn’t have, so this makes you want to ride more safe.”

But anyone who thinks Lorenzo and the rest of the MotoGP field are going to hand a fourth straight Island victory to Stoner on a plate should think again. Look through the field and Casey could get trouble from a number of possible sources…

Young American Ben Spies, for one: the former world Superbike star is on the front row for the third time in his outstanding rookie year in MotoGP.

“I’ve got the lap time to make the podium,” says the 26-year-old from Memphis, Tennessee, “but I just want to make the bike better for the last 10 laps of the race. It would be nice to clinch the Rookie of the Year title tomorrow – it would be another box ticked in what has been a really positive season so far.”

For another MotoGP rookie the second half of the season has been pretty positive as well.

That’s Italy’s Marco Simoncelli, who has won the last two 250cc races here at the Island and starts from the second row for his Island debut in the big league.

“We have made a good step,” said the 23-year-old with the world-famous hair. “Now all we have to do is look ahead to the race.”

Simoncelli has yet to step on to a premier-class podium, with two sixth places his best so far, but has begun to look the goods in recent races – could the questionable conditions play into the Honda man’s hands today?

And who could discount the Doctor?

Valentino Rossi is on a lowly eighth spot on the grid after alleging he was delayed on hot laps by both Aleix Espargaro and Nicky Hayden, but a man who has been on the podium every year for the last 12 can hardly be written off – especially when he has just three races left to show who’s really boss at Yamaha before he takes Stoner’s seat at Ducati in 2011.

Island fans will also see history made when we greet the first Moto2 winner here. The man on pole position in the 39-strong cavalry charge of 600cc mounts is the richly experienced Alex de Angelis.

 “It’s very good, because this is my first pole position in Moto2, and I’m happy because this is my favourite track,” says the man from San Marino. “I’m OK with this bike and this team. I have changed this year three teams, so for me it’s very difficult to understand the position of the bike and the tyres. Now I have a good feeling to open the gas early, so I hope to continue like this.”

And in the smallest class of all, let’s not forget that this our second-last chance to see the 125 Grand Prix bikes in action before the 250c Moto3 class takes over in 2012. Three Spaniards are fighting it out to make it a Hispanic clean sweep of all three titles, and the man out front – by just three points – is Marc Marquez.

The 17-year-old Derbi ace is on pole for the 11th time in 2010, but his focus is firmly on this afternoon’s action: “The race is the most important. We will see which weather we’re going to have, but I think we are on a good level in dry conditions and wet conditions. We will see, but I think we can do our pace, and it’s very important for the Championship.”

Good news for local fans is that all the Aussie wildcards – not just Josh Hook, who excelled yesterday – have been granted special dispensation to start the race.

In the national support class program, the Superbike riders hit the track today for two more eight-lap races at 8.35am and 11.45am. Yesterday's opening battle was a thriller, with an arm wrestle between the eventual winner Shannon Johnson and Robbie Bugden going right down to the wire in a signature Phillip Island drag to the finish line.

A number of other top guns such as Jamie Stauffer and Josh Waters were caught out by incorrect tyre choice in yesterday's fickle weather, and they will be expected to return to their normal front-running deeds today.