You’ve got to love rivalries in sport. This current war of words between Matt Moss and Todd Waters that has been waging on signifies just what this Monster Energy MX Nationals MX1 title means to the pair of them – everything.

Moss is widely known as one of the more aggressive personalities in the sport. He’s not afraid to say what he thinks and has the skills on his bike to back it up. That said, he’s a media favourite for those exact reasons.

As for Waters, he is one of the sport’s nice guys. Extremely outgoing and easily approachable, you won’t find a more natural pro Motocrosser in Australia. Scratch beneath the surface though and his determination is a certain match for Moss’ and there is no way he will lie down under the current circumstances.

At the beginning of the year, you could say Waters was winning races easily and had no doubt been the class of the field. A serious head injury and later a broken collarbone during the mid-season break derailed his form, but he’s stopping short of using those injuries as any kind of excuse (when realistically they’re definitely affecting him on the bike).

When that all happened, Moss happened to hit his stride as he gained confidence in his return year to the 450 and worked extra hard after linking up with Alter Ego Elite’s Dan Reardon.

Matt Moss debuted the red plate and extended his lead at Swan Hill. Image: Jeff Crow/Sport the Library.

So now, with two rounds to go they’re separated by 11 points. Moss has momentum, while Waters is using each weekend off as time to further recover and gain strength from his recent string of injuries.

An incident at Hervey Bay caused sparks between the pair, which resulted in both being summonsed to the Williams Event Management (WEM) truck for a meeting with series officials. Then, the clashes continues at Swan Hill on Sunday, which caused the rivalry to reach boiling point.

Moss is on a mission and you can read his opinion on the matter by clicking here, while Waters himself is fired up for the title fight as it goes down to the wire (stay tuned tomorrow for an official update from his corner).

Right now it’s both men for themselves, but you can guarantee, the best man will end up winning this thing. For the sport it’s a win-win situation and hopefully the two of them can look back on the battle as one of the best of their careers.

What makes this rivalry even more interesting is the fact that Moss came from KTM (albeit in the US) to Suzuki for 2013, while Waters went the opposite way!

That’s it from me for today, here’s Makker for his weekly round-up…

The eighth round of the MX Nationals at Swan Hill threw up few surprises on the track, with all three series leaders, Matt Moss, Luke Styke and Hamish Harwood consolidating their position at the top of their points’ trees.

The most interesting development is seeing the rivalry between Mossy and former points’ leader Todd Waters starting to reach boiling point as Gobert mentioned above.

Waters reverted to white backgrounds at Swan Hill, but is determined to reclaim the red. Image: Jeff Crow/Sport the Library.

After getting the elbows out and trying to punt each other off the track in a desperate mid-pack stoush at Hervey Bay, the pleasantries resumed at Swan Hill where the two again exchanged more than phone numbers after the opening race.

You can’t blame the fellas for getting all hot under the collar. Both riders have been employed by their motorcycle manufacturer to deliver them a title. Unfortunately there’s only one available and they’re not able to be shared.

The tension between Waters and Moss should further escalate over the final two rounds – there’s a lot to lose and everything to gain for both, and as long as they keep the feud on the track and not let it spill into the pits, then we’re in for a thrilling climax to this championship.

Personally I love the passion and emotions that are starting to emerge between these two blokes: it shows how much this title means to them and how serious they are about racing.

What I’m not so buzzed about right now is the dismal number of riders behind the gates of both the senior classes. Of the 40 gates available at Swan Hill, only 19 of them were filled in MX2, and just 17 in MX1.

Diminishing field sizes are a concern in national Motocross. Image: Jeff Crow/Sport the Library.

I get the fact we’re nearing the end of the championship and there have been some casualties, but this situation of less-than-half-empty fields is sounding some pretty serious alarm bells for me. We should have dozens of riders, local heroes and fast kids clamouring at the opportunity to get amongst the action at each round.

Is it a case of riders having a defeatist attitude and not wanting to get lapped or embarrassed? Are the entry fees too high and the prizemoney too poor? Is the risk too much compared to the reward?

Whatever the case, I think it’s a situation that needs to be addressed and quickly, as it’s a pretty poor look from a spectators’ point of view to see just a handful of blokes out there circulating.

And the factory teams can’t continue to swap and change riders incestuously; we need to see new talent come through and not just from the MXD class. The future of Australian motocross depends on it. Here’s hoping the thriving South East Queensland moto scene will mean we see full gates at Toowoomba and Coolum.

That’s all from me this week. Remember to check out all of MotoOnline.com.au’s social networking channels and be sure to Like/Follow us for even more behind the scenes insights. We will be further increasing our focus on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the season ahead. Just search MotoOnline.