Welcome to the 17th edition of MotoOnline.com.au’s MX Hub, presented by Alpinestars. Coming off a weekend of MX Nationals and the resumption of American Supercross, there is of course plenty to speak about.

We knew Adam Monea would be strong at Wonthaggi after his podium showing last year, but few would have predicted he’d win the overall without a moto win! After a strong showing at Broadford, an ankle injury held him back at Appin, but he was back to his best for his home stop.

Directly following the race on Monday, Monea’s team owner Troy Carroll jumped aboard a plane and headed to Las Vegas for the Monster Energy Supercross finals – you can bet he was smiling the whole way! And a well-deserved win it was, too.

Kirk Gibbs and Billy Mackenzie’s brilliant moto victories were of course overshadowed by Monea’s MX1 breakthrough, but make no mistake those results from the pair will boost them right into this title hunt. Gibbs made it three podiums from three with sheer consistency, while Mackenzie limped home to 11th after a crash in moto one while running second.

Like Mackenzie, Jake Moss needs to find consistency if he’s to really challenge for the title. The speed is there, he is strong on the bike, but costly crashes at both Broadford and Wonthaggi has severely dented his championship chances.

And what of the rest in MX1? Kade Mosig was solid for DPH Yamaha, as was Rhys Carter for Team Motul Suzuki, and I actually think both of them are exceeding expectations week in, week out. Finishing ahead of guys like Jay Marmont and Cody Cooper plus many others in the quality field is no mean feat.

Also impressive were a couple of the younger guys once again in Hayden Mellross, Sam Martin and Jacob Wright – three of the sport’s real promising young talent in the premier class (and we can’t forget Jesse Dobson either). By the way, it was good to see Ross Beaton back in the mix for the weekend in MX1.

Image: Jeff Crow.

And Lewis Woods had his best showing of the season in 11th overall to continue leading the South Cup of the MX1 series. That’s a neat concept that we’ll be keeping track of all year, so keep an eye out for those guys, the true privateers of the sport on a national level.

MX2 was just as enthralling and while Kayne Lamont won the overall – his second of the year – aboard his Red Bull-backed Husqvarna, there were numerous strong showings. Geran Stapleton stunned by leading much of moto one upon return from injury, privateers Luke Arbon (now leading the MX2 South Cup) and Errol Willis were both competitive again, and Wade Hunter was also on the gas in moto one.

Hunter’s actually had a scaphoid for the past five weeks, only finding that out this week, which makes his recent run of form aboard a privateer four-stroke even more impressive. He did further damage to his knuckle in moto two on Sunday, but should be okay for Murray Bridge in a few weeks.

Speaking of scaphoids, I spoke to Josh Cachia late this afternoon and he’s confident he’ll take another step forward in South Australia. The cause of his DNF in race one and non-start in the second was a knock to the head in a crash with Ryan Marmont, but thankfully his troublesome wrist held up okay.

Before we get off topic on MX2, props also must go out to Wilson MX Honda’s Jake Emanuelli and Riley Graham from the weekend; those guys really made an impact in their own right and will only get stronger from this point. It’s great to see confidence growing from so many angles, boding well for the rest of the season.

The My Sport Live stream didn’t work again on Sunday (that’s one from three for the year so far since it worked at Appin), causing a delayed broadcast on Monday evening. It’s disappointing for the fans, but somewhat expected at this point, and almost to the point where they should focus on the package and consistently release it on the Mondays ready to view in high quality.

What did work without a hitch however was the live timing, which to me is a valuable asset that has been majorly improved this year. The whole delivery of the results on the MX Nationals site is much improved this year, so it’s nice to see things take a step in the right direction on that front.

There’s been plenty going on in the US lately, with Brett Metcalfe making a surprise appearance of Chad Reed’s Discount Tire/TwoTwo Kawasaki. What was he doing on it outdoors? We’re not sure, but the good news is Reed is also back to riding and he’s on track for Glen Helen.

Metcalfe is poised to defend his Canadian title for Leading Edge, but then again he’s also been linked to replacing Ryan Villopoto at Monster Energy Kawasaki in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross IF he doesn’t race. Then again (again), RV says he’s in. Looks like we are just going to have to wait and see how this all plays out.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Just a quick shoutout before I hand this over to Simon Makker, to Blake Colleton the MXD rider who was seriously injured at Wonthaggi on Sunday. Our thoughts are with you and we wish you the best in your recovery. Colleton has been showing real signs of form so far this year and was seventh at Appin; needless to say we’re all hoping for the best for him.

That’s it from me for this week, here’s Makker with the latest from up in Queensland…

The observant types among you might have noticed that while Penrite Honda’s MX2 thrasher Josh Cachia was scheduled to return from his troublesome wrist injury at Wonthaggi on the weekend, the likeable South Aussie wasn’t among the final moto results.

Cachia did turn up, but was clearly lacking bike time as he qualified 15th. Then six laps into the first moto, he tangled with Ryan Marmont after a tabletop. He remounted and circulated a couple more laps, then pulled off and wasn’t seen for the rest of the weekend.

We sure hope he didn’t suffer any further injury to his wrist, but word is he’s okay and will appear at Murray Bridge, or opt to return to the fray after the mid-season break.

All eyes were on the first sand-based round of the MX Nationals to see if the two-strokes would dominate the MX2 class. The pro four-strokers were almost licking their lips in anticipation at being able to point and wildly throw their arms about as the “huge horsepower advantage” the two-strokes have was brought into the open. But it didn’t eventuate.

In fact, Raceline Pirelli Suzuki’s Geran Stapleton shot to the front and lead most of the moto before falling at the death, allowing Serco Yamaha’s Luke Clout to take the win. Had Stapleton not fallen off, the four-strokes would’ve claimed the top two spots in that race.

The second moto was dominated by the two-strokes as Kiwis Kayne Lamont and Hamish Harwood, and privateers Luke Arbon and Erroll Willis third and fourth.

Image: Jeff Crow.

I interviewed Adam Monea about his narrow (to put it lightly) maiden MX1 win at Wonthaggi, and it was interesting to hear his thoughts on how it all panned out.

The tight racing that left Matt Moss, Monea and Kirk Gibbs all tied on 60 points after two motos had the teams so confused that they all went back to their trucks and weren’t sure who’d claimed the overall until just before the podium presentations.

Monea’s third in the second race meant he won on countback, as Moss finished fourth and Gibbs sixth. It doesn’t get much tighter than that!

Is RV2 done? If you haven’t already done so, make sure you watch four-time AMA Supercross champion Ryan Villopoto’s interview with Jeremy McGrath. Not only is it an insight into RV2’s massive achievement, but it genuinely looks and feels like the world’s fastest ranga is going through the motions.

I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, but when he’s throwing out lines like “I’ll be glad when it’s over”, and when MC asked if he’s still having fun, his answer is “that’s a tough question. Yes and no. It’s a job for sure”.

It goes to show no matter what you do for a living and no matter how much coin is in the bank, everything becomes a job eventually. Whether we’ll see Villo line up again in 2015 to vie for a fifth straight win is up in the air, but I personally won’t be surprised if he calls time on an incredible career in the near future.

Red Bull Ice One Racing Husqvarna’s Todd Waters was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time late last week, when he was involved in a practice crash that saw him break his leg, hip and that troublesome collarbone. From what we’ve heard, Waters landed on another rider who had crashed on a blind jump at Eersel, Holland.

Fellow GP riders Max Nagl (broken wrist) and Mike Kras were also involved in the crash. It’s a brutal blow for the rookie who’d caught many by surprise with his seventh position in the MX1 standings, and he’s expected to be out of action for three months. Rest up, mate!

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