Kevin Magee previews the Australian MotoGP at Philip Island

YAMAHA teammates Valentino Rossi are locked in a MotoGP championship arm wrestle — but who will come out on top in the Australian GP at Philip Island?

Spain's Jorge Lorenzo steers his Yamaha tailed by Italy's Valentino Rossi on Yamaha during the MotoGP Japanese Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Motegi, north of Tokyo, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

VALENTINO Rossi’s arm wrestle with Jorge Lorenzo over the 2015 Moto GP world title continues this weekend at Philip Island in the Australian Grand Prix.

The pair have been locked in battle ever since they were level on points after Round 11 at Brno and neither are ready to give up yet.

Rossi has the upper hand by 18 points — that’s not a lot, but it is very valuable at this stage of the championship with just three rounds until the final at Valencia on November 8.

Rossi will be 36 years and 265 days old (young!) that day, so should he win the premier class championship he will be second oldest rider in Grand Prix History to do so. Leslie Graham, the inaugural 500cc champion in 1949, was 37 years and 340 days old.

Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will once again lock horns at the Australian MotoGP.

Rossi won at the Island last year in dramatic circumstances after Marquez crashed out with a four second lead. The nine-time MotoGP champion then had to overhaul Lorenzo for his first win since Misano, his only other win last year.

It was a race of attrition with Crutchlow, Pol Espargaro, Dovisioso all losing the front under brakes on the all new asymmetric front, as did Marquez. Bradl took Aleix Espargaro out into Turn 4 hairpin, as did Iannone taking Pedrosa out.

Qualifying has been Rossi’s achilles heel since the new format was introduced. It took him until Round 8 at Assen to get onto the front row, which he did in style by taking pole. He went on to win after a “fairing bashing exercise” at the final chicane instigated by a revived Marquez on the 2014 chassis and swingarm in his RC213V.

This year it has been a very different tale. Lorenzo claimed his fifth win for the year at Brno in round 11, seeing him draw level on 211 points with Rossi who had only won once.

Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino rossi may be teammates but they are also rivals in the 2015 MotoGP championship battle

Since then the two teammates have been locked in an intense battle with no shortage of mind games! The tension is well and truly simmering heading into the final three rounds as Rossi shoots for his tenth title and Lorenzo his fifth.

The tension could boil over this Sunday at Phillip Island, which is not just one of the best race tracks, arguably the best motorcycle racing track in the world!

Lorenzo holds the qualifying lap record, while Marquez the race lap record and top speed of 346.2km/h, all from 2013!

By 4pm Saturday afternoon “qualifying two” will have set the grid for the red lights to go out 24 hours later.

The “Island Lap” is the fastest average speed of season, a staggering 182.1 km/h, requiring unrivalled precision by riders for 324 corners of battle. Tyre life is critical on the left side of the rear, as we witnessed 2 years ago.

Valentino Rossi is on track for his tenth world title.

This of course is a World Championship battle for Rossi and Lorenzo, but it’s just another Grand Prix for the rest!

That said, the crowd will be hoping for some positive results from the locals. Not only will they have Australia’s Jack Miller to cheer on, Anthony West will be on injured Karel Abraham’s Honda to do battle with the best riders in the world in the “open” class. Damian Cudlin has also replaced Alex de Angelis to make it a triple treat of locals in the bit one.

Johan Zarco has already been crowned the 2015 Moto 2 World Champion but that will not stop him from trying to take his eighth win this season. Australia’s Josh Hook will get his second start in Moto 2 replacing the injured Dominique Aegerter like he did last week at Motegi and will again at Sepang.

Moto 3’s Danny Kent may well be crowned World Champion at The Island, becoming Britain’s first World Champ since the late great Barry Sheene in 1977. Fresh from the Red Bull Rookies Cup Ollie Simpson gets another wildcard at The Island, Matty Barton will get his first taste of the Moto 3 World Championship and Moto 3 regular Remy Gardner will be lining up on his Mahindra.

Originally published as Kevin Magee previews the Australian MotoGP at Philip Island