Welcome to the 10th Moto Insider of season 2012 (can you believe that!), which is now brought to you guys by Oakley as they’re new partners of this ever-popular weekly feature section on MotoOnline.com.au.

The good news is right now that we are within a month of the newly titled Monster Energy MX Nationals series commencement at Conondale in Queensland on 1 April.

We welcomed Monster Energy as the Australian Motocross Championship’s official title sponsor, which was a very special moment for the sport. The industry also must be thankful to Rockstar for their support in recent years, but as of one week ago, it’s Monster all the way in the MX Nationals.

The launch marked a great opportunity to do some bench racing with various industry insiders, plus made for an interesting time to see Jay Marmont and Brad Anderson meet face-to-face for the first time. There’s already a feeling of Australia vs the world in the pre-season and that’s going to gain steam as the rounds roll on.

I’m personally very excited with the journalistic opportunities that are set to present themselves in 2012, because if you’re a local publication and are having trouble finding angles to all sorts of storylines this year, you’re in the wrong game. It’s shaping up to be a cracker!

Anderson said that he’s been enjoying flying under the radar and also that he has ridden with Ben Townley during testing. One thing he did mention is that since he won all three motos in 2010 at Raymond Terrace, he kind of feels like he’s expected to do the same again. Only thing is, Australian MX is much, much more competitive than two years ago. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ando comes out and wins motos at the opener.

Jay Marmont's new race bike for 2012, looking very similar to the American setup.

Anyway, Monster Energy Kawasaki was doing a bunch of photo shoots up in Queensland this week, marking the first official time that we’ve seen defending MX1 champion Jay Marmont’s KX450F race bike (can you say Ryan Villopoto?).

It’s also interesting to note that Billy Mackenzie has switched to number 18 for this year, rather than his customary 211, so that will take some time to adjust to in the early rounds.

Regardless, I was saying on Twitter earlier this week (@AlexGobert23) that I believe there are six guys with a legit shot at the MX1 title, plus around five in the MX2 class. Billy is one of those guys, no doubt.

Who are they? I’m not going to say, but I will go on the say that I can also count over 10 guys who could win (and possibly already have won) motos along the way in the premier class.

Sunday was actually another unique occasion for me because on a day riding out at Kembla near Wollongong, Marmont and Lawson Bopping (who took Jay’s seat at CDR Yamaha) met on track for the first time since switching teams.

Both were friendly toward one another as you’d expect, even sharing a few notes about the bikes to an extent, but a quick game of cat and mouse played out between them on track during the day. Traffic meant we couldn’t see a true indication of speed, but it was a nice preview nonetheless.

In speaking to Bopping, he said he’d been down in Victoria testing alongside new teammate Josh Coppins at Yamaha and already he was learning from the former GP rider. He said he was going fast, which we already knew he would be, but Lawson has also been gaining confidence of late.

One very interesting fact is that CDR has switched to Renthal handlebars after years on Easton. Every little thing counts these days, as we’ve seen from Ben Townley and Marmont in requesting a host of changes on their new rides.

Ford Dale will be one to watch at round one of the Monster Energy MX Nationals. Image: Shayne Rice.

Tye Simmonds had his first race on the Honda in Dubbo last weekend at an open meeting, taking victory as you would expect. Sources in the area said he’s looking strong, contrary to conflicting reports in the press recently, and I know that he has motivation on his side for this year.

There was also another race in the Sunshine State last weekend, where the likes of Ford Dale, Todd Waters, Jake Moss and more were on track doing battle. The early word is that Dale is absolutely flying on the Honda, so we look forward to his racing return. Waters and Moss are also gaining momentum when it counts.

Meanwhile in South Australia it was Kirk Gibbs who won the state title round in the Lites. Both Gibbs and Luke Arbon have moved back home to SA this year after basing themselves in Queensland last year, which should be a benefit for them. They’ve been back in SA for a while now, but we’ll see how it goes come the outdoors.

I am tipping some epic battles between Dale, Gibbs, Kade Mosig, Luke Styke and Josh Cachia this year. Add in Brenden Harrison and Errol Willis then we have ourselves a massive next-gen fight on our hands. There are more contenders of course, but those guys have been in the spotlight for the most part of late.

Ryan Marmont is under an injury cloud at the moment, still recovering from a hand/wrist injury that he suffered in a crash at the recent Appin open. He tried to ride at Kembla on the weekend but was in too much pain, so he’s opted to rest up for a little while longer. If he can get momentum on his side then he’ll be in there with the younger guys, as will MX2 returnee, Cheyne Boyd.

It’s all starting to surface now though and we really are beginning to get an idea who’ll come out swinging at round one, so we certainly can’t wait to get it all underway. If you’re looking for some extra info from the U.S, this week we’ve left it up to Steve Matthes in his weekly Matthes Report tomorrow to handle the info from across the pond.

That’s all for another week, as always, thank you for stopping by to read the MotoInsider, presented by Oakley.