China plan smashed

I had been invited to represent Australia along with Mick Doohan at the Race of Champions in China, however I decided to pull out. It is disappointing that I've missed it, especially since one of the reasons I decided to stay on in Australia for the next three years is because I would be able to weave in some overseas events like this.

However, it is the right decision. Our team boss, Roland (Dane), gave me his advice not to participate, but he said ultimately it was my call.

There are no other overseas opportunities on the horizon for me that I know of and I have no plans at this stage to go hunting for anything over the Christmas break, so it is kind of disappointing to be missing out.

However, I made the call. I just didn't need the distraction after the debacle at Surfers Paradise. I was very disappointed with myself because that weekend was clearly my worst performance in three years. Now I just need to concentrate on the next three races, starting with this weekend back at Phillip Island.

It's going to be like "deja vu all over again" with us returning to the track we very nearly won at just a couple of months ago. Of course, we should be at Bahrain this weekend, but that event got cancelled because it is part of the double header opener next year and it was just too close to this event.

While it might feel a bit like deja vu, Phillip Island's format will be very different from the last time we were there. For a start it's only a two-day event. We get a quick 30-minute practice on Saturday morning, then we're straight into qualifying and a 100km race and 150 points up for grabs.

Even the qualifying is cut short. Sunday is the usual quick qualifying and then a 200km race. The HRT team drivers will have the scent of blood up now after I faltered at Surfers Paradise, but really it's a four-way struggle with my teammate Craig (Lowndes), Garth (Tander) and my good mate Will (Davison) breathing down my neck.

It's going to be tight as I think we're all pretty even. It was a close thing in 2007 and this year feels similar. I learnt a lot from my experiences in 2007 and although it didn't look like it at the SupergGP what I learnt then will help me in the remaining three rounds.

I'm not really getting worried or concerned about the closeness of the points. I suppose I have more to lose than the other guys, but I'm confident in our ability as a team and I'm just going to go out there and do my absolute best.

We had a very quick car when we were last at the Island, but luck just didn't go our way with a blown tyre with one lap to go. We'll be checking the tyres this time to make doubley sure that doesn't happen again. Another two-wheel champion who is stepping up to the four-wheel challenge is World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss. He's tested with us and other teams and didn't disgrace himself at Bathurst.

Now I hear there is a chance he will get a full-time drive next year in some sort of hook-up with our team and Paul Morris Motorsports which we're working with closely now on our move to Holden next season.

Good luck to Troy. He's a great talent and a great bloke. We're right in the silly season now with driver movements and licence changes and team movements going on everywhere. It's just a great feeling to know we sorted out our move to Holden months ago.