Welcome to our 14th edition of the MotoInsider column, presented by Oakley, for the 2012 season, coming off one of the quietest weekends in a while on the sport front.

While the Monster Energy MX Nationals and Monster Energy (great supporters of the sport!) AMA Supercross series had the Easter weekend off, we here at MotoOnline decided to take time out on Friday before re-firing on all cylinders for Monday.

The big news is this week that Ben Townley has been confirmed for Coonabarabran this weekend, not yet headed to the U.S. to ride for TwoTwo Motorsports. I’m pretty sure this will be his last appearance since Hangtown’s AMA opener is right around the corner next month, but you never know.

Townley fans can see him on SPEED News Australia tonight at 7.00pm AEST, speaking about his time in Australia, the deal with Chad Reed and I suspect more about his career. If you want more on BT right here on MotoOnline, check out this film that we put together and published on Monday this week by clicking here.

Many of the MXN contenders actually travelled up to Moree for the NSW state title round on Monday, which was won by in-form Motul Pirelli Suzuki rider Todd Waters – see news for more on the event, or check the Arnette-sponsored Catching Up interview we did yesterday with the 47.

Waters is in prime form right now and has stunned so far with his speed, that Moree win against competition such as Jay Marmont, Jake Moss, Tye Simmonds and more really cementing the fact that he’s quickly settled in at Suzuki.

You can watch Ben Townley on SPEED News Australia tonight at 7.00pm AEST. Image: Shayne RIce.

Moss has been Waters’ training partner for some time now and both were on a tear at the MXN opener with 3-4 finishes, so expect more of the same this weekend at Coonabarabran. In fact, Waters and the Suzuki squad stayed on at Moree for testing this week before heading south to Coona.

Goanna Tracks at Coonabarabran has actually been a real hot spot of late for riders to train at, so what we will see there this weekend is a few track regulars really stepping it up and contending for the round. Moss, Waters, Simmonds and H&H’s Dan McCoy are just a few MX1 riders who have done a lot of laps there recently.

The rider we’re hearing will come out swinging at Coonabarabran is Simmonds, winning a moto against Waters and co. at Moree on Monday and indicating that we can’t judge his form by his results at Conondale. The word is that he had a few technical dramas at round one, so by now we expect the kinks to be ironed out and his program much stronger. We certainly hope so.

Dan Reardon is another that could step up this weekend, continuing to work as JDR/KTM’s lone MX1 rider. He’s got a bit of work to do but isn’t losing hope yet, just one more rider who didn’t quite have the first round go the way he would have liked (it was a familiar feeling after the weekend).

We know that the international line-up of Townley, Josh Coppins, Billy Mackenzie, Brad Anderson are in form and will be strong on any given weekend, as will Cody Cooper. I’m just mentioning names here as they come to mind, but once again we have to highlight just how deep this series is with talent in 2012.

Jake Moss is one of many who will be strong at Coonabarabran this weekend. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com

Phone reception is minimal in the region so we won’t have our usual live updates from the circuit via Twitter or Facebook this weekend, but we will be certain to update everything that happens on the site as soon as we regain service following the round (and each night during the event).

What the lack of reception also means from what I understand is that TAG’s live timing system won’t be on this weekend since it runs online. Once this thing’s in place and running at its capacity, we suspect it will be great, but it’s obviously hitting some hurdles to begin with.

This weekend marks the first round that we’ll see a two-day event put in place, which is basically because the Vets and ATVs will join the party this time around. For us here it gives us plenty of time to get things done, and we’ll have the same amount of coverage that we had from the opener, spanning all week long after the event.

I actually went cycling with Jay and Ryan Marmont on Saturday in Wollongong, both still on the mend to regain 100 percent health after picking up their own respective off-season injuries. Jay headed straight to Toowoomba for testing with Monster Kawasaki after the Moree NSW round, fine-tuning the settings of his KX450F.

Kade Mosig was at the Marmont’s when I was there last week and he managed to win the NSW round in the Lites on Monday. With momentum from that event on his side, expect a far superior performance from him at Coonabarabran – he sure does put in the kilometers to make sure he’s ready to race.

Ford Dale is another who has been busy since round one, heading across to NZ with Carlton Dry Honda teammate Ben Townley. Already the pace-setter in MX2, Dale will be even faster this weekend and chances are that the experience of BT could help him gain the consistency required to seal the deal.

Kade Mosig has been working hard as in preparation for round two. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

The pattern we’re seeing is that these Lites riders are increasingly relying on their more experienced teammates to guide them along the way, which can only be positive for the sport’s future. Lawson Bopping and Luke Styke are two more who have linked up as riding partners lately over at CDR Yamaha and Serco Yamaha.

Speaking of Carlton Dry Honda before, we have the official word what happened to Brad Anderson in that third and final moto at Conondale. “He came up short on a jump and the radiator dug in and sliced a wire,” according to team owner Yarrive Konsky. “It was enough to cut out the engine. We have never had this problem and will ensure that it will never happen again.”

Stay tuned for a complete Industry Insight interview with Konsky that will go live tomorrow, speaking about the team and the current state of the sport. It’s a good one and we’re pleased to have one of the sport’s leaders speak so openly about all things MX.

We received news this afternoon that Michael Phillips is out for this round and maybe the next, prompting the MX Factory Honda team to replace him with Swedish rider Calle Aspergren in the MX1 class alongside MX2 regular Justin McDonald.

By the way, our films published from round one at Conondale have reached around 30,000 views in total, setting new records and showing a great amount of growth within the series on a domestic level. Motocross really is booming right now and we have to be thankful to WEM for providing such a world class and professional platform for all to work from.

I’ll wrap this one up now with a big weekend ahead, but thank you for stopping by and remember, Facebook and Twitter have much more ‘inside’ information that we share when we get it on a regular basis. Just find us at MotoOnline on both.

Before we go though, a quick reminder to check out the rebranded MotoOnline.com.ay Fantasy League tipping competition within the iMoto Community Forum. It’s some good fun to be had and chances are you’ll win a prize or two throughout the year.