Reed was unstoppable at the final three Super X rounds. Image: Sport The Library.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCROSS
Last weekend’s final round of the 2009 Monster Energy Super X, Australasian Supercross Championship, brought an incredible series to an end for another year, with a great improvement coming for its second year of competition.

The track inside Brisbane’s QSAC Stadium was epic with so many line selections to choose from for the riders, while American visitors Davi Millsaps, Josh Grant and PJ Larsen made the round memorable despite the absence of James Stewart.

Double Super X champion Chad Reed has proven in the final three rounds that he’s finally back to his best on the Kawasaki KX450F with clean sweeps at Parramatta, Hamilton and Brisbane, wrapping up his year on a high.

Reed was relentless in his pursuit at Brisbane, seemingly stepping it up once again as a sign to Stewart that he’s ready for the 2010 AMA series, although you have to hand it to our domestic guys for pushing him all the way.

Millsaps was a contender and looks much more comfortable on the new CRF450R, while Grant was forced out after the first of the Triple Challenge finals with a slight knee injury that he suffered in a practice crash.

CDR Rockstar Yamaha’s Jay Marmont loved having the Americans out here in his back yard and again proved his might by running the pace – debuting Yamaha’s new YZ450F with a podium on modified standard suspension.

Marmont has also confirmed that he’s hoping to race a few AMA Supercross events at the start of the year if he can source a team, which will finally give him the opportunity to race in the States again if it goes ahead.

Dan Reardon wrapped up his Honda career with fourth overall, now heading straight to the U.S. in order to join up with the MotoConcepts team and begin testing on the Yamaha with just one month remaining until the Anaheim opener.

The Lites class in Brisbane was another good battle featuring Australia’s top young guns, with American Kyle Cunningham picking up his first overall win of the season as series winner Matt Moss focussed on the Open class for the finale.

Cunningham’s now headed back to his home country without a job for next year, which is a disappointment for him considering he’s just had seven Supercross races to hone his skills.

Speaking of Moss, we all know by now that he suffered a compression fracture of the T5 vertebra in his back after a nasty crash in the whoops, so here’s hoping that he can make a speedy recovery in time for Anaheim as he had initially hoped. Otherwise, get 100 percent fit and show the Yanks at a later date what you’ve got, Mossy!

Daniel McCoy charged to fifth overall for the round despite fracturing his foot in practice, casing out on a jump and requiring immediate medical attention so he could ride and seal fifth in the title as a privateer with Coastal KTM.

McCoy has put in a solid effort during Super X to cement himself as a top five guy in the Opens, and the word is that he may have a few factory contracts in the works for 2010 as a reward.

It was a night of retirements at Brisbane with both Troy Carroll and Cameron Taylor taking to the gates for one last time as professional racers, while Kawasaki Racing Team manager Brett Whale also retired from the sport. Congrats on the lengthy careers to all three.

AMERICAN SUPERCROSS
The countdown is officially on for the 2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, with just one month remaining until the gates drop for the first time in 2010.

While the Aussie stars holiday after Super X, Reed will be back stateside working feverishly in a bid to take back his number one plate from Stewart, and he finally looks to be in good shape on the Monster Kawasaki.

For Australian fans, we’ll be waiting to see how Matt Moss is feeling after breaking his back at Brisbane’s Super X finale, because he has a factory Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 waiting for him when he recovers – hopefully by Anaheim on 9 January.

Matt won’t be the only Moss hoping to be recovered in time, with twin brother Jake also in a race against time to heal from his broken arm suffered at the Super X opener in Tasmania back in October. Jake’s signed with the Canidae Suzuki team to ride the 450, but if his arm’s not healed then he’ll switch to the East Coast Lites.

It’s going to be an amazing series over there this year and let’s hope that the Aussie contingent can really make a dent on what is the most hotly contested Supercross series in the world.

AUSTRALIAN MOTOCROSS
The word going around the industry this week is that the MX Nationals Australian Motocross Championship will have television coverage for the Opens, Lites and possibly the Under 19s classes in 2010, with confirmation expected to be coming within the next few weeks. Sources have said that Rockstar Energy Drink will be back once again as the series’ title sponsor, following a one year hiatus after also supporting the series in 2008. That would be a great boost for the nationals as WEM continues to do a fantastic job of promoting the series.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE
Want to know who’s doing what in the 2010 Australian Superbike Championship? Here’s the rundown of what we know following calls around the teams to the riders and team managers.

The only factory team confirmed to be retaining its riders in 2010 is the new champion Team Joe Rocket Suzuki effort, set to re-sign Josh Waters and Shawn Giles for the Superbike while Troy Herfoss will continue his initiation in Supersport for TJRS. Queenslander Robbie Bugden will remain as the satellite rider for TJRS, while fairing Racers Edge has confirmed that it’ll run a Phil Tainton Racing-prepared GSX-R1000 with ex-factory Kawasaki rider Scott Charlton.

As anticipated, Evolution Sports Group will join the factory-supported ranks for next season with KTM officially signing on as the manufacturer with a single-bike Superbike team featuring Shannon Johnson. Johnson will ride the RC8 R with direct factory support from Austria in the project. We’re hearing that Chris Trounson could also be on the team, albeit in the new Superstock 1000 A class that’s to be contested within the Superbikes. I personally hope that happens because it would mark the first reasonably big name rider and team to test the waters of the new category.

The list for riders without contracts heading into the off-season is much longer – and it’s not looking good for most.

Olson could be on the Superstock 1000 with YRT in 2010. Image: Keith Muir.

Motologic has parted ways from Honda and is expected to be contesting next year’s series with factory-support from Ducati, although an announcement is yet to be officially made by the team or manufacturer. That leaves former champion Glenn Allerton’s future uncertain for now, though likely to remain with Motologic, while Wayne Maxwell has been widely speculated to be making the move to the British Superbike Championship as we revealed last week.

Yamaha Racing Team is working hard on structuring its Supersport and Superstock 1000-only program after quitting Superbike, with Pat Medcalf contracted and almost certain to be stepping up to Supersport while both new champion Bryan Staring and Jamie Stauffer have been made offers.

New Superstock 600 champion Rick Olson is expected to fill the shoes of Medcalf on the 1000, with YRT possibly fielding a second YZF-R1 in the category if funding is sourced.

That leaves Dan Stauffer without a seat and Jamie searching for a Superbike ride, and it’s believed that, along with Staring, all three riders are actively in discussions with Trinder Brothers Racing. The Queensland-based team is 95 percent certain to field an Aprilia RSV4 Factory or two.

Finally, the Kawasaki Racing Team has closed its doors as announced due to the lack of budget, leaving Kevin Curtain and Ben Attard without rides, but a late saviour could come in the form of team manager Dave ‘Radar’ Cullen actively seeking sponsorship for the team, which would then permit the team to continue.

Privateer champion Craig Coxhell confirmed that his CJC Racing squad is likely to be back for its second season of operation, also in negotiations for increased manufacturer support for the season.

WORLD SUPERBIKE
World Superbike teams will have their final test of 2009 at Valencia today and tomorrow, with a host of teams set to put their 2010 bikes through their paces before the festive season.

Lined up for the tests are Aprilia Racing team riders Max Biaggi and Leon Camier, plus test rider Alex Hofmann.

The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team will be in attendance with Jonathan Rea, Max Neukirchner on the Superbikes, while Kenan Sofuoglu and new signing Michele Pirro will be on the Supersports.

Suzuki Alstare will field both their new signings for 2010, Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli, while the Sterilgarda Yamaha team will also be at Valencia running MotoGP refugee James Toseland and Cal Crutchlow on their R1 machines.

MOTO2
It’s been said that the Moto2 teams will also be on track at Valencia this week, which is somewhat strange considering the rivalry between World Supersport and Moto2 that’s building larger by the day.

Tech 3 Yamaha launched its bike on track for the first time last week at the non-championship Ledenon circuit in France, with French young gun Florian Morino doing the shakedown test before regular riders Yuki Takahashi and Raffaelle de Rosa take over at Valencia this week.

We’ll have all the news as it happens from the tests, so stay tuned for that in the Breaking News section this week.

BRITISH SUEPRBIKE
Australian Josh Brookes has confirmed that he’s reached a verbal agreement with Honda to remain in the British Superbike Championship for next season, staying put with the factory HM Plant team.

Brookes had a mixed season in 2009 after missing the opening rounds and then having a couple of controversial crashes, although fourth in the championship as a rookie despite all that indicates that he’ll be back stronger than ever next year as a title contender.

AORC E1 champion Ben Kearney is headed to the U.S.

AUSTRALIAN OFF-ROAD
The announcement that the Desert Edge Race Team will be spearheaded by AJ Roberts with factory Honda support is an encouraging one for 2010, although they’ll be shooting for the major desert races next year.

Motorex KTM Off-Road Racing has announced it’ll field Australian Off-Road Championship winner Toby Price alongside Australian Four Day Enduro winner Jarrod Bewley in the AORC, while Ben Grabham will again be a solid fit for the team in the desert races.

Gone from the KTM effort is E1 champion Ben Kearney, who’s headed to America with older brother Glen, himself and former AORC outright champion a number of years ago.

It’s yet to be revealed who will replace Price at Kawasaki, or who will replace Chris Hollis at Husqvarna (if he doesn’t contest the AORC) as he moves to the world championship.

Suzuki Australia announced that its RMX450Z is now available in Australia, so we’ll have to wait and see if they campaign a factory-supported team in the AORC to launch the brand new model.

That’s it for this week!