Just as I had been settling in to a ‘quiet’ off-season of weekends, the one gone by was probably the busiest of the year with our combined coverage of dirt (MotoOnline) and road (CycleOnline) competition during the Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Between the Australian Supercross action, MotoGP and its lower tiers, plus the domestic Superbikes, the keyboard got a massive workout across through Saturday and Sunday. Add in the Monster Energy Cup on Sunday and, yeah, you see where we’re heading!

But that’s what keep these sites going; key events that attract tons of traffic, which in turn helps us generate budget via sponsorship each year on top of all the regular season. And even when the racing season actually does cool, we’re hard at work behind the scenes to get funding we need for the year ahead (not too dissimilar to race teams!).

What we’ve seen in recent weeks between the Motocross of Nations, Red Bull Straight Rhythm and Monster Energy Cup is that fans love one-off, hyped up events. With online coverage at its peak this year, the atmosphere has been felt probably moreso than ever before.

And from an Australian perspective, there’s no doubt that our local fans love all things motocross. If there’s racing on, Aussie enthusiasts are watching, and I’m a believer that the ASX series locally benefits from the unique interest we witness during the months of October and November.

Image: Marc Jones.

On track in supercross, as Simon Makker goes into more detail below, we’re seeing some of the best racing action in memory. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks for everybody involved, so hats off to series organisers, teams and privateers that are committed to going racing after what’s been a long year already.

Now onto a different subject altogether, it was somewhat of a surprise to see Dean Ferris confirmed for the MXGP ranks with the Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna team. While we expected him on a Husky, early predictions were that he’d be on the Ricci Racing team, but instead, he’s on a full factory 350.

That, combined with all indications that Todd Waters will be back with the Ice One Racing Husqvarna team (he’s just had a full factory bike delivered to Australia), serves well for a superb 2015 season to come. And remember, Kirk Gibbs’ new KTM contract includes select showings in grand prix racing as well!

That’s it from me for this week’s glimpse behind the scenes. For now, here’s Makker with his latest observations of the past week.

After a frantic few weeks within the national racing scene, things have slowed down a touch this week as the Australian Supercross Championship heads into a three-week break. After ripping through four rounds in eight days (seriously, that has to almost be some sort of record) both the riders and teams can finally take a breath and come up for air.

This year’s championship has gone according to the predicted script as far as your points leaders go, but there are a tonne of little stories and scenarios going on in the background that have caught people by surprise.

Probably the biggest of these is the resurgence of Jay Marmont. After announcing his retirement from the sport at Conondale midway through the MX Nationals, Marmont then signed a supercross-only deal with Penrite Oil Honda Racing as a bit of a ‘last hurrah’.

While outdoors results have been slim pickings for the Australian legend over the past three years, Marmont did claim the Australian Supercross Championship in 2012. However, his form this year has caught many people off-guard, and I reckon he must be wondering right now if he should renounce his retirement and return with Honda for a final crack at the 2015 season.

Honda certainly would benefit from having a rider of Marmont’s caliber in their corner, and it’s obvious that he’s comfortable and happy with his current set-up.

Image: Marc Jones.

With one round remaining, Mont is currently sitting in fifth behind the logjam of Lawson Bopping (more on him in a moment), Adam Monea and Kirk Gibbs, but a podium position isn’t out of the question. After two podiums in a row at the Phillip Island rounds, Jay seems to have found some of his mojo again and he’ll want to finish the season strong.

And then there’s Lawson Bopping, the top five-running bloke who found himself a victim of both a long-standing illness and some team belt-tightening at the end of 2013. Even a stint in the US contesting selected rounds of the 2014 AMA Supercross couldn’t encourage the Australian teams to open their wallets for him.

Thankfully Team Motul Suzuki took a gamble by signing him up for the supercross championship and he has rewarded their faith in him handsomely. The team now holds down first and second in the MX1 championship and they’ve got to be pumped with how their number two rider has performed.

Here’s hoping Boppo’s form has caught the eye of a team or two and he’s given another opportunity to prove his worth in the 2015 season with a full-time ride.

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