MotoOnline.com.au looks back on a busy 2013 and recaps the biggest motocross newsmakers, movers and shakers from the year that was.

Todd Waters
Todd Waters might have finished bridesmaid in the 2013 MX Nationals for the second year running, but the guy has been a conversational point all year. After signing with the newly-formed Motorex KTM team, Waters dominated the opening rounds of the MX Nats, suffered two injuries that ultimately thwarted his campaign, got involved with a war of words with 2013 champ Matt Moss, inked a deal to ride in Europe for the Ice One Red Bull Husqvarna team, represented Australia at the MX of Nations before heading overseas to chase his dreams. 2013 has been a mammoth year for the Cairns native.

Dean Ferris
If there’s one rider who’s captured the imagination of the Australian motorcycling industry this year, it’s World GP giant-killer Dean Ferris. In his second year on the grand prix circuit, the Dixon Yamaha rider scorched to multiple podiums and a memorable 1-1 clean sweep at Bastogne. Ferris then proved he’s at the absolute top of his game by battling with the likes of Eli Tomac, Ken Roczen and Justin Barcia at the MX of Nations. Soon after, Ferris parted ways with his Yamaha team after announcing he’d re-signed with them for 2014, and has now just left for the USA, where he’s expected to sign a Lites deal with the Red Bull KTM team to race the West Coast AMA Supercross Championship and the AMA Motocross Championship.

KTM two-strokes
Funny what a few results can do. Two years ago two-stroke racers were looked down upon and considered a dying breed. Now the same four-stroke riders are crying foul and complaining the two-strokes are too powerful. KTM has become a weapon of choice for Australian privateers looking to contest the MXD and MX2 classes. Kiwi Hamish Harwood came from nowhere to win the MXD class this year, and Kale Makeham became one of the biggest revelations of 2013 by becoming a podium regular in his rookie MX2 year. On a two-stroke. On top of that, the MX2 third-placed finisher, privateer Brock Winston, also rode a KTM 250 SX all season, including an epic battle at the series final at Coolum where he went hammer-and-tongs with MX2 champ Luke Styke for 80 percent of the first moto. Just quietly, we’re stoked the two-stroke is still alive and kicking – you can’t beat the smell of pre-mix!

Dean Ferris became Australia’s fourth MXGP winner during 2013.

Luke Styke
Luke Styke grabbed more than his fair share of headlines and interviews this year as he dominated the MX2 class in both the motocross and supercross series, winning the outdoor championship with a round to spare. The 21-year-old gave Serco Yamaha their first titles since 2007, and did it with enough of an authoritative stamp to attract the attention of European-based teams. He’ll be undertaking his first world championship campaign next year on board his beloved YZ250F.

Carlton Dry Honda
After an incredible year in 2012, Carlton Dry Honda looked the goods in 2013 with a solid line-up of Ben Townley, Ford Dale and Josh Cachia. But things just kept going from bad to worse as one after the other their riders – and even their stand-in guest riders – fell under an injury cloud. After Jackson Richardson crashed and broke his femur one lap into practice at Hervey Bay, there were even phrases such as ‘the Honda curse’ being bandied about. It looked like Honda got their season back on track when defending Lites champion Gavin Faith returned to defend his supercross title, but after a promising series, the wheels fell off at a horror final round at Toowoomba, handing the title to his rival Luke Styke. Let’s hope 2014 will see the red wing rebound to its former glory.

KTM buys Husqvarna
KTM’s purchase of Husqvarna this year was one of the most talked about topics, period. What the move has done is create a fleet of super-competitive bikes, provided more factory race teams worldwide and generally added another contender to the ‘big six’ if we’re to judge from flawless equipment and official racing participation. With Queenslander Todd Waters in MXGP next year for the brand and Husky on the brink of adding a factory team to the Australian fields, no doubt next year will be even bigger and better for the capital H.

The Moss brothers
After the crazy finale to the 2013 Terex Australian Supercross Championship on the weekend, there are few people who don’t have an opinion on twins Jake and Matt Moss. Some love ’em, some hate ’em, but no-one can dispute their drive, determination, speed and sheer will to win. It’s been a red-letter year for Motul Pirelli Suzuki’s Matt Moss, wrapping up both the MX Nationals and supercross championships in quick succession, staving off some heavy attacks from Todd Waters and Josh Hill in the process. However, it was Jake who stole the headlines last week, after he and Josh Hill collided during the main event at Toowoomba, knocking Hill out of championship contention and allowing Matt Moss to cruise to the title. Both sides of the camp have been vocal with their opinions about the incident, and at the very least, both riders have gained new fans and haters.

Husqvarna is back! In a big, big way – look for a huge push next season under the ownership of KTM.

Williams Event Management
The MX Nationals promoters did a great job of continuing to grow Australia’s premier racing event this year, with all events running fairly smoothly, except some timing issues at certain rounds. The introduction of a new points breakdown and Super Pole format, and a return to 30-minute motos got a lot of chins wagging, and for 2014 WEM has announced we’ll see different racing formats (so some rounds will see the traditional formats and others will see a return of the shorter motos), possibly chopping the MXD class from Under 19 to Under 18 years, and added incentives for privateers. The latter was the biggest issue the series faced all season and it’ll be interesting to see what WEM will do to attract these racers back to the starting line.

Chad Reed
Australia’s best ever, Chad Reed, has surprised everyone this year with his obvious lack of form and pace in the USA. A disastrous supercross series thanks to a knee injury saw him finish an uncharacteristic fifth overall, but he then reportedly picked up a virus infection before the outdoors opener at Hangtown. From then on, Reed was so far off the pace we felt sorry for him. For a regular top three runner to be languishing in the bottom half of the pack week-in and week-out was tough on all of us, most of all him. He didn’t make excuses or reveal specifically what the issue was, but we hope he turns it around next year with Kawasaki and with a new-look TwoTwo Motorsports… or, Discount Tire Racing as it’ll be titled.

Yamaha’s YZ250F
It’s been a huge year for the blue brigade. With their carburetted YZ250Fs wrapping up both the MX2 and SX Lites championships (Styke) and Under 19s supercross titles (Jay Wilson) and Daniel Milner wrapping up the E1 and Outright championships for CDR Yamaha’s Australian Offroad Championship team, Yamaha has sent their old model out to pasture on one hell of a high note. The 2014 YZ250F (with the much anticipated EFI) was launched to media on Monday, with everyone raving about how good the next generation of 250Fs is. If it’s a step up from what CDR Yamaha and Serco Yamaha used this year, there’ll be some very worried faces in the pits next year.