Can you believe there’s just over one month remaining until the Australian Supercross Championship commences in Darwin mid-September? Either can I! Especially considering there’s still three rounds of Monster Energy MX Nationals action remaining.

The title fight between new series red plate holder Matt Moss and Todd Waters will be epic over these final three rounds and I have a feeling it’s going to heat right up before the final chequered flag falls at Coolum.

For more on the evolving Moss/Waters rivalry, check out this story we pieced together recently. What’s even more interesting is that on both Motul Pirelli Suzuki and Motorex KTM, Cody Cooper and Kirk Gibbs are more than capable of mixing it for podium slots. We can’t wait to watch it play out.

And Billy Mackenzie, the Hervey Bay overall winner, will we see him on a 2014 Yamaha YZ450F this weekend at Swan Hill? And if we do, will it assist his title chances? Click here for more on that, but watch this space…

Now of course Carlton Dry Honda has been in the news lately, mostly for all the wrong reasons due to rider injuries, however Gareth Swanepoel’s moto win at Hervey Bay gave them plenty to smile about – air forks and all!

This weekend will see another ‘new’ rider drafted in, being experienced Honda campaigner Peter Boyle. He’s been doing awesome things for the team off-road lately, so it’s a pretty natural decision for the team to give him a guest stint come Sunday and potentially for the rest of the season.

Matt Moss and Todd Waters are in the thick of an MX1 title battle. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

We mentioned Supercross earlier, and many possibilities are shaping up there. Linked to Honda so far have been the likes of former champion Josh Hansen, as well as promising fellow American Kyle Chisholm. Swanepoel might stay on, while of course in the Lites will be defending champion Gavin Faith.

CDR Yamaha will require another rider alongside Lawson Bopping since Billy Mackenzie is on an outdoor-only deal, while Daniel McCoy is near certain for Motorex KTM alongside Kirk Gibbs (and possibly Todd Waters). Click here for more on that.

Motul Pirelli Suzuki was hoping to put Jake Moss on alongside brother Matt for SX, however that was still an uncertainty according to Jay Foreman at Hervey Bay. Cody Cooper is another who’s on an outdoor-only deal.

And news broke this week that Josh Hill will be riding a Hart and Huntington/DPH Suzuki alongside Sam Martin in SX, which will be a cool deal for all involved. No doubt he will be a championship contender given the right preparation.

We will begin to see riders really ramp up their Supercross preparation following Swan Hill this weekend. You’ll see a flood of social networking updates to indicate that next week, so that itself will give us plenty to speak of.

In terms of the series, International Entertainment Group has confirmed a Women’s championship and you can expect some major names such as our very own Meghan Rutledge to line up. There’s even talk of Jessica Patterson making an appearance.

Josh Hill has been confirmed to contest the 2013 Australian Supercross Championship.

What’s more, IEG has hinted that we could see a Speed and Style event take centre stage during the rounds, rather than the usual FMX demos. How cool would that be? I personally am a big fan of the combination and these guys who can do this well are super talented.

That’s it from me for now, over to you Makker…

After two frantic weeks within the Motocross world, the past seven days have been fairly subdued in comparison. There haven’t been any laser scandals to get people all hot and bothered about, the national racing calendar is sitting between rounds and the only real action was happening either in Europe or at the Summer X Games in LA.

As Jeffrey Herlings wrapped up the World MX2 title at the Czech GP, a whole swathe of Aussie riders were doing battle in inside the famous Staples Centre in downtown Los Angeles.

After missing out on the medals in his favoured Freesytle discipline, multi-time X Games medalist Blake ‘Bilko’ Williams grabbed a silver medal behind the legendary Nate Adams in a hotly-contested Speed and Style competition.

But the biggest hard luck story from X Games went to Aussie ripper Meghan Rutledge. After dominating the whole Women’s Moto X Supercross race, Mad Meg fell into the trap of celebrating prematurely with a final lap, final jump fist-pump.

Problem was, she washed out on landing by the time she remounted, two-time gold medalist Vicky Golden had passed her and added a third gold medal to her mantle-piece. Gutting would hardly describe how the Meg felt at that moment!

Meg wasn’t the only one who was robbed. Robbie Maddison coulda/shoulda/woulda grabbed a medal in Best Whip if it wasn’t a popularity contest governed by teenyboppers and the general, clueless public for the most part.

Meg Rutledge came excruciatingly close to a gold medal at X Games. Image: Grant Reynolds/FiftySix Clix.

Granted, Josh Hansen’s filthy, filthy whips deserved the win (the first time justice has been served for years in Best Whip!), but there’s no way Twitch’s turndowns or Vicky Golden’s bum-whips deserved to beat Maddo’s and Edgar Torranterras’s delicious offerings.

But possibly the biggest shocker was seeing Levi Sherwood throw one of his best FMX runs ever, only to find he was beaten by a ‘same old, same old’ effort by Nate Adams.

Back on the home front, the rumours I’d mentioned last week about Luke Arbon getting a Serco Yamaha ride came into fruition a couple days later and it’ll be interesting to see just where he sits in the grand scheme of things when the Supercross series chugs into life in five weeks time.

Arbon has been running a full-time job, but has been riding regularly, from Motocross right through to enduro and 24-Hour races. He can now focus solely on Supercross and make sure he’s as dialled in as humanly possible for Darwin.

That’s all from me this week. Have a good one!

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