Australian MotoGP, Phillip Island
Date: 16-17 October

Saturday 16 October: Qualifying, 0250-0600, BBC Red Button/online
Sunday 17 October: 125cc & Moto2: 0250-0505, BBC Red Button/online. MotoGP: 0545-0700, BBC Two/online, MotoGP repeat: 1245-1400, BBC Two

The rivalry between former world champion Rossi (left) and his successor Lorenzo (right) is now more intense than ever

By Steve Parrish BBC MotoGP commentator

Jorge Lorenzo may have been crowned world champion but that does not mean the 2010 MotoGP season is over - far from it.

I think we could still see some real fireworks in the last few races, mainly between Lorenzo and his biggest rival, Yamaha team-mate and former world champion Valentino Rossi, starting this weekend at Phillip Island in Australia.

Lorenzo confirmed his status as the champion in Malaysia last weekend but Rossi will have been very pleased to steal a bit of his limelight by winning the race, ending his longest barren run for 10 years in the process.

It was a good weekend all round for Yamaha. Rossi proved he is back to his best and Lorenzo won the title but you can almost smell the cordite in the air as you walk through the team garage.

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Lorenzo's title celebration party ended up with everyone jumping into a swimming pool.

Lots of people got their heads shaved, too. I was talking to Lorenzo's team manager the next day and it took me a while to realise who he was because he looked so different.

Prior to the race in Sepang, Lorenzo said he was going to make sure it was a quiet one as far as he was concerned. He just wanted to make sure he finished the race as champion.

Now that he has achieved that goal, expect a different Lorenzo out on the track, starting this weekend.

He has absorbed everything he can from Rossi over the last few years, which includes the rough stuff, so I would imagine he has got some things up his sleeve for the remaining races this season.

This weekend will not just be about Rossi and Lorenzo, though.

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Casey Stoner will be desperate to impress in his home race, particularly given that he must be as mad as a bear about the way he fell off early in Malaysia because his tyres were not warmed up.

And Dani Pedrosa will be back after missing the last two races with a broken collarbone.

Lorenzo's title win means that next season we will have four world champions on the grid - Rossi, Lorenzo, Stoner and Nicky Hayden.

Then there is Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Ben Spies, who are potential title challengers. It bodes very well for next year.

But the 2010 season still has a way to run - and this weekend should witness an absolute humdinger of a race.

My Phillip Island race prediction:

1) Casey Stoner 2 ) Valentino Rossi 3) Jorge Lorenzo

Steve Parrish was talking to BBC Sport's Julian Shea.

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