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Australian Supercross

Monster Energy Super X is coming up quick, just a few short weeks away and it’ll be go time. With a five round series contested over consecutive weekends, riders need to ensure they are ready, because there is next to no time to make improvements if you get off to a slow start.

Unfortunately for Serco Yoshimura Yamaha’s Kirk Gibbs, he’s been ruled out of training for at least the next couple of weeks after suffering a broken collarbone yesterday (check out our news section for more info).

The good news though is that he expects to be back in time for Melbourne’s season opener on 22 October, expecting to undergo surgery this Friday in a bid to speed up the recovery process.

Two Lites riders who are only just beginning to get ready for Super X are Matt Moss and Kade Mosig, both who spent time in the U.S. practicing motocross straight after the MX Nationals wrapped up.

Moss and Mosig both had good form during the outdoors and will enter Super X with their confidence high, so expect them to get up to speed in no time over the next couple of weeks.

In case you missed it yesterday, we did an interview with Moss about the MXoN and Super X, so check it out here.

Monster Energy Super X is just around the corner, commencing on 22 October in Melbourne. Image: Sport The Library.

Super X seems to bring top riders closer together when it comes to preparation, with many sharing eachother’s tracks since quality places to practice supercross are so hard to come by.

Out of Bounds Film Company’s Guy Streeter was out at Lawson Bopping’s earlier this week to shoot some footage for us, lucky enough to head out on a day where Bopping, Errol Willis, Jake Moss and Luke Styke were all out cutting laps.

The Marmont brothers – Jay and Ryan – continue to do their homework with a neat set-up not too far from their home, with the CDR Rockstar Energy Drink Yamaha team heading up to test with Jay and new teammate Jake Moss next week.

There are a whole heap of riders from down the South Coast including the Marmonts, Moss brothers, Styke, Cody Mackie and more who will contend this year, but we’ll have to wait and see who is going to come out on top at round one.

In Queensland it’s a similar situation as many practice together, including Gibbs, Luke Arbon, Shaun Redhead, Robbie Marshall and even Dean Ferris at times.

I’m sure it’s the same in Victoria too, which sets up a unique opportunity for Global Action Sports to kick off some kind of regular State of Origin theme for those selected riders who train together mid-week for the series. I’m not certain if they are doing it this year, but with the right ingredients and marketing it could gain momentum.

Anyhow, in case you missed the film that Streeter did with Doggy Marmont earlier this week, here it is again…

Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing boss Yarrive Konsky confirmed to us this week that Gavin Faith will ride for the team in the Lites class during Super X. Like most of us, I had to Google Faith to see who he is, but Konsky is confident that he can put forward a good performance.

Faith won’t actually be arriving until just before the series, nor will Chris Blose for the new Hart and Huntington/InsureMyRide Kawasaki team since he’s riding the Monster Energy Cup the weekend prior to Super X. If Martin Davalos comes for Suzuki, he won’t be here until right before round one either.

The official Super X Facebook page today confirmed that Tye Simmonds has committed to the series, which we reported right before Pala’s AMA season finale. He could be a dark horse for the title considering his U.S. experience this year, although there are a lot of guys out there who are making this series a hard one to pick.

Monster Energy Kawasaki has been busy testing this week since Billy Mackenzie is fresh back from Europe, commencing initial preparations with the 2012 model KX450F. The question is, who will partner Mackenzie at Kawasaki in the Open class?

Broc Tickle will ride the 450 in AMA Supercross next year for Mitch Payton’s Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team, so considering their close ties with the factory team in Australia, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to give him seat time in Super X.

It’s purely speculation on my behalf right now, although I do have sources who have hinted at the possibility recently if Josh Hansen doesn’t come, but it does make sense. After all, Hansen entered the AMA season this year on a roll following his Super X crown.

American Supercross

Reports coming out of the U.S. have Kiwi Ben Townley riding the Monster Energy Cup next month in Las Vegas, vying for the million dollars that’s up for grabs.

Realistically you can’t expect BT to win the cash with a sweep of the event, but he has been riding in the States of late and it’s a good opportunity to put himself in the shop window for teams over there.

Townley will likely ride a Pro Circuit Kawasaki in the race, although some have said that in 2012 he is in talks with Factory Connection to ride for the GEICO Powersports team on a 450. Wouldn’t that be cool to see!

There’s a lot of silly season talk going on at the moment, much of it fuelled by Chad Reed on Twitter regarding the future of TwoTwo Motorsports, and he clearly loves the fun of it all. Good on him too, because it’s great publicity and certainly gets people speaking about his team.

Australia's Chad Reed and his TwoTwo Motorsports team are the centre of the U.S. silly season.

Many are saying that James Stewart will ride for JGR on a Suzuki, which I guess would mean that he’s going to close shop on his own team using Yamahas. We’ll have to wait for official confirmation on that one though.

Red Bull KTM confirmed this week that Ken Roczen and Marvin Musquin will be their Lites riders next year, although no mention has been made of Ryan Dungey just yet. Media in the States expect the announcement to come on 1 October.

Chances are you’ve read much of the hype in our forum and elsewhere on the web of late, so we won’t speculate too much, although what we can guarantee is that next year’s AMA Supercross season is going to feature a very different feel to it!

Australian Off Road

This weekend will mark the final round of the Yamaha Australian Off Road Championship, with Chris Hollis leading over Ballard’s Yamaha teammates Matthew Phillips and Stefan Merriman Outright.

The event will be held at Salisbury in New South Wales on Sunday and Monday, so if you’re looking for some world class action in the area, get out there and check it out. Visit www.ma.org.au/aorc for more details.

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