Australia's Chad Reed is right in with a shot at taking out the AMA Supercross title as a privateer in 2011.

American Supercross
Man, this year’s AMA Supercross has been amazing. Just when we thought things were settling down and Ryan Villopoto was going to run away with his first Supercross Class title, Jacksonville’s 11th round threw a massive spanner in the works.

Actually, it was two spanners in the works if you include the unfortunate first lap crash of James Stewart, forcing him to leave the stadium on a backboard with a quick trip to hospital.

Luckily enough Stewart wasn’t seriously injured in the fall and the series will go on, and one thing is for certain that no matter what happens from here the guy who wins the title will definitely not have an asterisk next to his crown.

Back to Villopoto though, can you believe after three straight wins he didn’t make the main event? It was purely a case of bad luck that RV didn’t make the main after a disastrous run of crashes in his heat and the LCQ, but you can guarantee he’ll bounce back in Toronto this weekend.

The good news for Aussies is that Villopoto and Stewart’s bad luck has put Australia’s Chad Reed back in the title chase and you really can sense a feeling of momentum in the TwoTwo camp right now.

Chad hasn’t been particularly happy with his performances of late and he’s still been gathering a nice string of podium finishes, so I have the feeling that his title boost could bring out the best of him right when it counts – not to mention the fact that his team is gaining experience by the minute.

We have six rounds left and a six-way fight for the title when you factor in RV, Reedy, defending champion Ryan Dungey and last weekend’s winner Trey Canard.

There’s been little mention of South Australian Brett Metcalfe sitting out the Indianapolis and Jacksonville rounds, but he and the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team have decided to do that after he copped a few bumps and bruises in Atlanta and Daytona.

Apart from his most recent mishaps, Metty has enjoyed a consistent season to date even if it hasn’t been as strong as he may have hoped, but he’ll be a clear favourite for the outdoor Nationals when they commence in a couple of months after Supercross.

Of the other Aussies, Michael Byrne has been gaining speed with a host of top 15 finishes and he’s almost ready to break the top 10, while young gun Tye Simmonds continues his steep learning curve as JDR/J-Star/KTM’s lone premier class contender.

You have to give Simmonds credit where its due because he has been thrown in the deep end for his first season in one of the hardest seasons on record, and just qualifying in that crowd is no mean feat.

Simmonds will also be the team’s lone rider in the 450 Class of the Nationals, however Dan Reardon is expected to join him for the final rounds right after the Aussie MX Nationals conclude.

Scotsman Billy Mackenzie won Broadford's season opener, but even he admits he's not sure who will be quick in the dry over a race distance.

Australian Motocross
Round two of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals is just around the corner, hopefully a dry affair that will give us a decent indication of where the Pro Open guys stand following the mud fest that took place at Broadford.

There’s still a degree of uncertainty regarding who’s in form and who’s not at this point, because although we got a fair indication in qualifying who was quick over the course of a lap, nobody’s 100 percent certain who can last the long haul.

When I spoke to Broadford winner Billy Mackenzie recently he said even he wasn’t sure who had the speed to win in the dry, but we’ll find out soon enough and he was just happy to get out of round one with a good dose of points considering he’s in an essentially all-new team.

Speaking of the Queensland-based team, a unique aspect for Troy Carroll’s operation this year is that they have an actual chef for hospitality. It may be a bit of overkill for motocross, but when you consider the lengths V8 Supercar teams go to in order to keep sponsors happy then its probably a very good idea.

Jay Marmont said in a new story of ours earlier this week that he’ll be a new man at Appin, but I don’t think his ninth place at Broadford was a result of him not being in form. It was pretty much bad luck and if I had to put my opinion on his riding right now, I’d say it is much better than one year ago.

A few people have been wondering about the rivalry building between Jay and younger brother Ryan since Doggy’s finally a fulltime Pro Open rider for JDR Motorex KTM. Well, there simply isn’t one and the boys are absolutely proud to be up against each other in the big leagues for 2011. Expect a massive turnout from Wollongong supporting the brothers when the series visits Appin next weekend.

What about the Kiwis? Since Broadford they had another round of the NZ Nationals, which was won by the in form Cody Cooper, while Josh Coppins also continues to shine. They have a format of three motos run over around 25 minutes, so it’s good training for them to keep them sharp. In fact, the word this week is that Jay Marmont is going over for this weekend’s season finale!

Suzuki’s Pro Lites rider Daniel McCoy won last weekend’s NZ MX2 round, putting him in the points lead over there and that will be a huge confidence booster for him heading into his home round of our MX Nationals at Appin.

McCoy is going to have to bring his A game though because we all know how fast the Moss brothers are, and round one winner Matt Moss will be joined by twin brother Jake at Appin for round two and the rest of the series.

When I spoke to Matt for our Moto Talk that was posted on Monday he said Jake is still regaining confidence and fitness, but he’s a Moss – they don’t know how to ride any other way than going fast!

The funny thing is when it was raining so much in New South Wales earlier this week, Matt was on his way to go surfing in the weather and I’m pretty certain Jake was with him, so there’s two more notable brothers who not only race and train together, but enjoy the good life together as well.

Motorex KTM's Toby Price on his way to victory at last year's Finke Desert Race.

Australian Off-Road
With the Australian Four Day Enduro just around the corner around a month away, the Motorex KTM team has snuck in some testing ahead of June’s Finke Desert Race.

The importance of these desert races to KTM in Australia is clear and they have a great record to boot, so this year’s race should be one of the greatest yet with over 500 competitors entered.

This year see a return of all the big names, with 2010 rookie winner and AORC champion Toby Price leading the charge for two in a row. Second and third place finishers, Todd Smith and Ryan Branford will be back, both on different coloured bikes with Smith making the move from a KTM to Honda and Branford from a Honda to Husaberg.

Three time champion Ben Grabham will be back after a disappointing DNF in 2010 along with teammate and team manager Brad Williscroft, also looking to recover from his DNF in 2010.

Local hopefuls returning include Jack Dooley-Mcdonnell, Peter Costello, Michael Walsh, Michael Vroom, Jared Ewin and Daymon Stokie. Interstaters set to rival the locals include Jacob Smith, Caleb Auricht, AJ Roberts, Matthew Fish, Mark Sladek and Jehi Willis.

We’ll be covering it all as usual, but it seems like KTM may be a step ahead of their competition already when it comes to serious preparation for the event in 2011.

That’s all we have time for this week, but as always thank you for stopping by and reading up on the latest from behind the sport.