Hello and welcome to a very late edition of the MotoInsider, presented by Oakley, right here on MotoOnline.com.au. A combination of tight deadlines and work behind the scenes has seen the late arrival of this week’s Insider, but here goes…

With the MX Nationals season entering its vital final stages, this weekend’s Horsham round will be another pivotal one. As I’ve said recently, any move from this point will be key. One bad round from here on will see any of the title contenders eliminated almost on the spot.

When the season began it was the internationals who held the strength at the top. But lately it looks as though the young Aussies are the ones to beat, being Todd Waters and Lawson Bopping. With a win each at Murray Bridge and Hervey Bay, their confidence will be high and that spark makes such a difference to younger guys.

Josh Coppins and Brad Anderson aren’t out of this title by any means of course, but it’s up to them to stall the momentum of Waters and Bopping. It’s an exciting time for the sport’s premier class, especially since defending four-time champion Jay Marmont is out of the title chase.

Josh Coppins leads the MX Nationals into Horsham this weekend. Image: Dan McCallum.

Marmont’s hopes of a dream switch to Kawasaki with a title won’t happen after he missed Hervey Bay, meaning that he and Troy Carroll will have to wait another 12 months before they can battle for the outdoor title together as a team.

Instead, Marmont has his supercross track ready and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him prepare so early for SX. Right now his focus is on returning to win races in motocross, but Tuesday after Coolum I’m certain he’ll be pounding out laps of his brand new track.

Speaking of coming back to riding, Billy Mackenzie is back on the bike, but I don’t expect him to be back for Horsham. He will be at Appin for sure, from what I know, and it will be interesting to see how he bounces back from injury at this point.

Last weekend at Coolum was the eighth and final round of the Sunshine State series, where Todd Waters and Ford Dale won the Pro Open and Pro Lites classes respectively. Waters’ win actually saw him pinch the title from privateer Aden de Jager, who himself put in a solid performance in that series.

Ford Dale will be hoping to take his Sunshine State form into Horsham in a bid to catch Luke Styke in MX2. Image: Dan McCallum.

Dale was runner-up overall in the Lites championship, which was won by WRD Yamaha’s Wade Hunter. Now all that we need to do is see Hunter transfer that form to the MX Nationals in the MXD ranks, which is very possible. Watch him, he has what it takes, that’s for sure.

While Waters was the headline act at Coolum, Bopping was right there behind him in the runner-up position. I actually bumped into him out at dinner on the Friday night in Sydney before he jetted off to the Sunshine Coast to get seat time at Coolum. Jake Moss was another MXN regular to head north for the round.

One thing to watch for this weekend is all of the Fox riders debuting the V4 helmet, which has just been released in Australia. Our friends at Monza Imports delivered me one today and there are orders going out all around Australia as we speak.

Well that is where we will cut it short for today, getting set for a big weekend ahead and I’m excited to see how this series plays out. I have a feeling that we’re about to see some big moves go down that will define season 2012 once and for all. Thanks for stopping by.