Think the AUS-X Open was epic last year? Already this year’s shaping up to be even better! And just yesterday Ryan Villopoto was confirmed to be coming for the Sydney event on 12-13 November, which is a huge coup for the sport in Australia.

The RV announcement was a bit of a strange one, coming only through social media channels from AUS-X Open and then relayed through the media, but more concrete info on his arrival is due to be released on Wednesday when tickets officially go on sale.

It’s difficult to predict whether Villopoto will actually race, but considering just how competitive the long-retired Ricky Carmichael was within the tight confines of Qudos Bank Arena (formerly AllPhones Arena), he should. Win or lose, the fans would love it, and only retiring this year means he’s still relatively fresh.

Otherwise, if he doesn’t race, you can count on an exhibition-type event more similar to what Carmichael did in the inaugural running. Which begs the question, will RC be back again for this year? It’d be great to see considering just how popular he was, but there’s been no indication as of year. Just how many American motocross A-listers they can afford remains to be seen.

Image: Simon Cudby.

And you can count on a strong addition of top talent coming from America to race after witnessing how good last year’s event proved to be. Hopefully we see Cooper Webb return if his wrist is healthy, otherwise riders on a similar level would be ideal. Either way, it’s going to be unreal.

This week we’ve had Guy Streeter over in Les Comes, Spain, for the 2017 KTM enduro launch, which was another major success by all indications. The product the Austrians continue to release is incredible and we’ll have a heap of Review articles from Streeter once completed.

That’s it for me from this week, time’s running out and we’re right in the middle of preparing for back-to-back Motul MX Nationals events in South Australia and then directly onto Western Australia. Here’s Adam Spence with more…

It’s race weekend once again! We’re headed to Murray Bridge in South Australia this weekend for the fourth round of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals series and personally I’m very excited. I’m a big fan of the Murray Bridge circuit for multiple reasons. It features a nice range of obstacles, some awesome dirt, a solid fan turnout and it’s a great track for shooting video. Following Broadford, which was one of the toughest events I’ve ever filmed, Murray Bridge being next on the list is absolutely perfect.

This weekend’s event will mark Jacob Wright’s first official appearance with the DPH Motorsport team following Lawson Bopping’s early exit from the series due to ongoing health issues. It will be interesting to see how Wright will go being back on the familiar Yamaha YZ450F, remember he spent a considerable amount of time testing with the CDR Yamaha team on a similar model in the latter stages of 2014 before his 2015 campaign unravelled due to injury.

This week we also saw the confirmation that Crankt Protein Honda Racing’s Jay Wilson will indeed undergo surgery to cure ongoing wrist issues he has been dealing with this season. I spoke about Wilson’s wrist problems in a previous edition of Moto 360, so it’s not surprising to me that he’ll be going under the knife during the five week mid-season break. If everything goes to plan, he’ll be back for Nowra’s sixth round of the championship fighting fit. Let’s hope it all goes well for the 2015 MX2 champion.

Image: Simon Cudby.

Internationally, the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is set to kick off at Hangtown in Sacramento this weekend marking the 48th running of the iconic season opening event. Unfortunately Australia’s Chad Reed will not be lining up for the event, nor will he be lining up at any of the 12 scheduled rounds this season due to his ‘supercross-only’ contract for 2016. Fortunately though, us Aussies still have a couple of riders on track to cheer on in the 250 Class.

Aboard his MAD Racing Dirt Candy Suzuki, 2014 Australian MX2 champion Luke Clout will make his professional US motocross debut at Hangtown. Clout made his Monster Energy AMA Supercross Western Regional 250SX debut earlier this season before a broken femur forced him out of the championship prematurely. Clout has completely recovered from the injury and will be lining up beside a selection of the world’s best 250cc motocross racers to see where he stacks up.

Fellow Australian 250 Class contender Jackson Richardson is also set to make his return to racing this weekend after spending time off due to injury. Richardson, aboard his XPR Motorsports-backed Honda CRF250R has previous experience in the US and will be hoping to put together some strong results after missing much of the 2016 supercross season. We’ve also got our very own Matthew Phillips representing Australia in the 2016 MAXXIS FIM EnduroGP World Championship in Greece this weekend in the E2 category, so we’re definitely in for a big one!

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