Hervey Bay hosted the sixth round of the Monster Energy MX Nationals last weekend, which was one of the toughest rounds of the entire season to date apart from Western Australia.

The track was notoriously difficult, rough and demanding. In fact, I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen so many mistakes and mishaps in one weekend from many of the series’ best.

The man who came out on top was well deserved in Lawson Bopping for CDR Yamaha, making the most of a recent trip to the United States to win his first career pro national round.

With that result, Bopping becomes the fourth title contender in MX1, while teammate Josh Coppins comes under increasing pressure from the likes of Bopping, Todd Waters and Brad Anderson. Between them, this series is shaping up to be one heck of a journey.

Could we see things heat up between the two experienced Kiwi contenders? Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Another Yamaha young gun was too good in the MX2 class, being Luke Styke, and I have a feeling that if he continues this current form, Yamaha would be mad not to give him an opportunity at CDR next year. He was a surprise at first, but right now him form is consistent and he’s making light work of the country’s best.

One person who I am personally impressed with is Kiwi Kayne Lamont, who looks like the one person who has finally stepped up and taken charge of the MXD class. With three round wins on the trot, his form has been boosted to title favourite status and rightly so.

What was interesting though, in the MotoOnline.com.au Pre-Moto Show on Saturday we had Ben Townley as a special guest. He reckons that anybody winning on a two-stroke kind of deserves an asterisk next to their name, because the guys putting in the hard yards on four-strokes are better preparing for the future. The great debate wages on…

Jay Marmont floating above the big Komatsu on his freshly built setup.

Speaking of a brewing war, how about Cody Cooper calling out countryman Josh Coppins in the last minute of our Hervery Bay Race Reflection film? That was a big call and people were taken back a bit by it, but I live for these rivalries – it’s what professional sports are all about. Regarding the actual incident, I didn’t see what happened, but I plan on calling both for their more detailed sides of the story this week.

While the nationals were on in Queensland, current MX1 champion Jay Marmont was at home working on his supercross and motocross tracks with the help of Komatsu. Check out this picture that was posted via social networking! He’ll be back for Horsham in a couple of weeks, 100 percent.

Appologies last week for the lack of a Matthes Report, but he’ll be back tomorrow after what’s been a quick couple of week layoff in the US. Those guys work flat out over there, so we let him off the hook for a week and he’ll be back at it tomorrow!

That’s all for this week as I’ll have to wrap it up early, but thank you for stopping by as usual.