It’s funny this motorcycle media game. You can wait all week/month/year for content to come your way via a press release in the inbox or by seeing info on social media, or, as we have done moreso than ever before this year, you can proactively seek information in the sport.

A combination of all three works best for us as resources continue to expand and in 2016 we’ve really benefited from having Adam Spence as part of the program fulltime. The result is clear here on MotoOnline.com.au with record traffic, as well as on partner sites CycleOnline.com.au and BikeOnline.com.au as we collectively build momentum.

Just in the past week we’ve actively chased down the likes of Lawson Bopping in the US for a news story, Luke Styke for an update on his fitness, Taka Katsuya for the inside line on his Honda Racing Corporation development role, Jordan Hill for a Profiled feature and even famed team manager Rob Twyerould for an update on the KTM/Husqvarna racing programs.

As a result, in what’s essentially a relatively quiet part of the year for the sport locally, we have highly relevant content flowing day in, day out. And from here, we plan to do even more by being in touch with those in the know, by being out in the field collecting content and by generally working hard to deliver the best Australian dirt bike website possible.

Image: Simon Cudby.

At the beginning of next month we will be heading north to Brisbane for the team launch of NPE Monster Energy Kawasaki, which will take place on board HMAS Canberra as part of their newly-formed Team NAVY association. It should be a blast and while we’re up there we’ll try to grab some additional contest as well.

In the meantime we had some spare time come up earlier this week, so Spence headed out to Appin to create an edit with multiple national champion Matt Moss as he prepares to try and regain his number one plate, as well as Dylan Wills who has had a great involvement with MotoOnline for some time now as test rider and so on.

And you’ll also see that yesterday we published Guy Streeter’s test from the Yamaha Motor Australia YZ450FX launch in Queenstown, New Zealand, which was a blast by all accounts. It’s been one of the highlights of the year so far and it’s positive to see Yamaha continue to push out new models and options for consumers worldwide.

But most of all in terms of our future, aside from the hours that go into delivering interesting news and features by the day, we’re motivated to showcase just what a great sport motocross and enduro is locally in 2016 by being involved as much as we are able to be. That’s what we’re here for and that’s our aim, to connect you guys closer than ever before.

That’s it from me for this week, the season is drawing closer, so here’s Adam Spence’s take from this week in the sport…

As Alex said, we’ve really been pushing increase the amount of unique, fresh and interesting content for our viewers in 2016. For me something I have noticed while doing so is the level of media awareness and professionalism lifting within Australia amongst our riders, it’s something that’s improving every year and it makes the sport as a whole that much better.

For us here at MotoOnline to do our job to the best of our ability and bring our viewers the best content possible, it’s impossible to do so without the riders making themselves easily accessible during the week or at the race track. Personally I’d like to thank each and every rider who takes a little time out of their day to work with us in creating our content, we’ll really appreciate it.

Image: Jeff Crow.

In saying that, one rider who took a lot of time out of his day this week to chat was Takeshi Katsuya. I had quite an in-depth conversation with him about his new role with Honda Racing Corporation for 2016, his thoughts on the MX2 category, the sport as a whole and his future plans. Taka gave us plenty of information on his HRC role, which you can click here to read more about, and went on to talk about what he’d like to do later on in his career.

It was awesome to hear that he’d like to create an MX2 team in Australia using his factory connections in Japan. Although this is just a hopeful dream at this stage for the 36-year-old, he would be able to bring a lot to the table for up and coming MX2 riders if he was able to put a team together domestically.

Taka has the ability to put together a seriously impressive bike with due to his relationships in Japan, he well and truly could have a program that becomes the new MX2 team to be on with the right backing and structure in place. This is something that’s really exciting, having another great MX2 team in the paddock is definitely a huge plus for Australian racing, it’s something I feel we do need.

But at this stage, Taka will have his hands full with his new role at Honda, testing for both the factory team and the production side of things. He’ll spread himself between Japan and Australia during the year, with hopes of making guess appearances in the MX Nationals series at select rounds if the bosses at HRC allow him to do so.

I could really go on all day talking about things that happened this week, who we spoke to, the exciting developments ahead, but for this week that’s all from me. We’re ready to go for another big week with exciting projects already locked in and plenty of content to deliver to our viewers, we hope you’re all enjoying it as much as we are in 2016!

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