Marco Bezzecchi
MotoGP fans are “sick and angry” after claims emerged that Phillip Island may now be turned into a golf course, after losing the Australian Grand Prix to Adelaide from 2027.
Phillip Island is one of the most-loved tracks on the entire MotoGP calendar among fans and riders alike. The track located a few hours outside of Melbourne has also held every MotoGP Australian GP since 1997, but the 2026 edition will mark the series’ farewell from the circuit.
MotoGP revealed in February that a new street track in Adelaide will stage the Australian GP from 2027, with an agreement in place with the South Australian Government and also with the City of Adelaide through 2032. But the decision to leave Phillip Island is widely deplored.
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MotoGP fans are enraged by claims that Phillip Island could become a golf course
Wayne Gardner blamed Phillip Island’s cost-cutting for losing the MotoGP race, as the circuit has not invested the type of funds to improve the infrastructure that MotoGP had wanted to see in recent years. There are also logistical issues with the bridge to get onto Phillip Island.
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So, this October’s Australian GP is certain to be an emotional occasion, as the championship says farewell to Phillip Island. It might even be a complete final farewell for Phillip Island, as Bob Barnard – the man who designed the track – claims it may get turned into a golf course.
“Recent comments suggest that after losing both the [MotoGP] GP and the WSBK [race] the owner of the Phillip Island Circuit property, Lindsay Fox, may turn it into a golf course,” said Barnard via a statement shared on X by Mat Oxley.
“Mr Fox is already engaged in attempting to build a new circuit at Avalon in Victoria. It now concerns me that the decisions by Liberty Media and the South Australian State Government will result in the loss of both iconic circuits, lost and gone forever.
“For an increase in share price for one and votes for the other, neither thinking of the good of the sport or the heritage they represent. The new Adelaide layout is not the original [F1] circuit, and will not replace what is regularly voted on as the best F1 street circuit in the world, nor the best motorcycle GP circuit, as expressed by the riders.”
Barnard’s claim that Phillip Island could become a golf course after MotoGP and the World Superbike Championship both leave has sparked widespread condemnation on X, with the MotoGP fanbase in uproar at the suggestion that a slice of the series’ history will be gone.
One MotoGP fan claimed: “Everyone involved in the demise of the circuit should be issued with a one-way ticket to Hell.” Another fan stated: “Horrendous on many levels! This is just awful. Makes me feel sick and angry at the same time. What a disgrace.”
Fans also claimed it is a “terrible idea” and that it is “beyond ridiculous”, and one claimed: “It’s like a MotoGP legend has died, same feeling.”
Another fan said, “Whoever came up with that idea is a clown,” and one noted: “That is a tough read right there… Australia is in serious danger of losing its motorsport heritage…”
The changes that MotoGP has planned for the Australian GP might not stop at moving the race from Phillip Island to Adelaide in 2027. It has been suggested that Adelaide chiefs are not against making the Australian GP a night race for it to better suit European audiences.
Oxley has also previously noted that Adelaide is a red herring to take MotoGP to The Bend in 2027. The theory is that it would have been impossible for MotoGP to strip Phillip Island of the Austrian GP without also teasing the prospect of it becoming a city-centre event.
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