What is it about the pre-season that gets us all so excited? Expectations are rife, new equipment is as fresh as can be, and following a few months without national-level gate drops, competitors are raring to go.

Personally I am a big fan of this time of year, just over one month out from Broadford’s opening round of the Monster Energy MX Nationals. With American Supercross already in full swing and Australian Enduro-X stealing much of the limelight this year, it’ll be nice to see local motocross back at the forefront.

There’s something about the outdoor season that I’ve come to enjoy more so than even supercross over the past few years; not only in Australia but also on an international level including the US. And that hasn’t always been the case.

Part of my swing has probably been simply by attending more outdoor events than anything over the past few years – seeing it up close and live certainly gives you a new perspective on what these guys are doing on the bikes.

Add in the anticipation for new formats this year – hopefully ones that will further attract privateers across the course of the season – and we’re on for a stellar year to come.

Speaking of supercross, things have been eerily quiet on that front in Australia since the initial 2014 calendar was released by International Entertainment Group (IEG) in December. In fact, from memory, despite the Phillip Island MotoGP dates changing, IEG never did actually send out an updated calendar advising their competitors…

Image: Grant Reynolds.

Even the announcement on the Australian Supercross website still lists 25-26 October, when the grand prix event was revised way back in December to its usual weekend of 18-19 October to avoid clashing with the Gold Coast 600 V8 Supercars event.

Sydney’s city was “to be disclosed” at the point of release, while Brisbane’s venue and exact date was also to be announced. Back then the initial statement said further detailed would be released shortly.

I can appreciate the difficulty in organising supercross, but when it comes down to the crunch, it’s all the little things that count. These are the final percenters that when all’s said and done will determine if the series is a success or not.

That’s it from me for this week in the MX Hub, thanks for reading, now over to Makker…

This weekend signals the start of one of the major international race seasons of the year, the FIM Motocross World Championship. The opening shots of anger will go down Qatar, after which the MX1 and MX2 battles will rage for 18 weekends between now and September.

While most eyes will be on the likes of multi-time champion Antonio Carioli and flying Dutch teenager Jeffrey Herlings, I’m personally looking forward to seeing if Aussie riders Todd Waters and Luke Styke can live up to the expectations of an entire nation.

It’ll also be interesting to see how Waters’ Husqvarna teammate Tyla Rattray fares in his return to the GP circuit after several years campaigning in the US. We’ll have a full breakdown and preview of the World GPs up on the site tomorrow, so make sure you swing by again to check that out.

Image: Madmax Photography.

Closer to home, Honda’s Cody Cooper again dominated the New Zealand MX Nationals over Billy Mackenzie, Ford Dale and Kirk Gibbs at the second round at Tokoroa. From what we’ve heard the track conditions verged on being dangerous, which forced everyone to ride well within their means.

I chatted to Coop yesterday morning while he was testing with the Krooztune fellas, and he said revealed that after qualifying he rode at about 90 percent pace for the rest of the race meeting. By the final moto he was even rolling some of the jumps in order to stay in one piece.

No doubt Penrite Honda boss Yarrive Konsky is pleased with Coops’ progress and confidence to date, but will also have his fingers crossed that the Bay of Plenty rider can carry his form into the Monster Energy MX Nationals in a month’s time… especially as it’s something Cooper failed to do in 2013.

As you read this I’m in the deep dark armpit of New Zealand at the bottom of the South Island getting everything ready for the legendary Farm Jam on Saturday. 2012 Red Bull X-Fighters champion Levi Sherwood has already been here on-site for a couple of days working his magic with the digger and overhauling the FMX course.

With a huge number of Aussie riders again making the trek across the ditch to ride the rolling green hills of the Farm Jam, this year is shaping up to be an absolute cracker. The weather forecast is looking promising after some ominous outlooks earlier in the week, so as long as the wind stays down, we’re going to see some pretty amazing stuff go down!

Well, that’s all from me this week. As always, remember to check out all of MotoOnline.com.au’s social networking channels and be sure to Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for even more behind the scenes insights. Just search MotoOnline.