Jay Marmont in action at last week's MX Nationals season launch at Barrabool. Image: Stephen Piper.

AUSTRALIAN MOTOCROSS
Australian Motocross 2010 is officially go, with the 2010 season launch held at Barrabool in Victoria last week.

Williams Event Management director Kevin Williams confirmed the television coverage that we’re in for this year, with a full hour from each round scheduled for the Pro Open class while there’ll be another full hour split between the Pro Lites and Under 19 series.

The coverage will be on Foxtel, presumably Fox Sports, as well as Fuel TV, again massively boosting the sport while heading in the right direction – as WEM continues to achieve year in, year out.

As for the on-track action at Barrabool’s launch, you’re probably wondering who looked the best… the word is that defending double series champion Jay Marmont was on the gas, while CDR Rockstar Yamaha teammate Cheyne Boyd is always quick outdoors.

In speaking to Marmont this week, he said that while he’s confident he can win a third title, he knows that having the likes of Cody Cooper and Billy Mackenzie in the series will make his task that much harder for this season.

Jay has also only just taken delivery of the suspension he’ll use outdoors for this year after spending much of the off-season on standard forks and shocks, with the news being that the team will use KYB instead of the Ohlins that they were so dominant with in past seasons. Jay also used KYB in Super X last year.

One rider who I’ve heard good things about during this off-season has been Andrew McFarlane as he settles in on the JDR Motorsports Motorex KTM team, riding the Austrian bikes for the first time in his career.

The dark horse for this season in the Pro Open title chase will most definitely be Tye Simmonds, entering his first full season in the MX Nationals on the 450 and all reports are that he’s going fast right now.

As for the Lites riders on hand at Barrabool, Ryan Marmont is feeling back at home on the KTM with JDR, while American teammate PJ Larsen is another who’s sure to be strong.

Lawson Bopping has the big shoes of Matt Moss to fill at Rockstar Motul Suzuki, but judging by his form in Super X last year and also at the Nationals he may just be ready to take that next step into being a winner.

Round one is just a few weeks away now to be held at Horsham in Victoria on 28 March, with last week’s test day at the track receiving good reports from the riders on hand.

AUSTRALIAN OFF-ROAD
One name that was absent from the Aussie Motocross section above was Coastal KTM’s Daniel McCoy, who himself has been doing a lot of training, testing and preparing for the new season.

But for this weekend, McCoy will take on an entirely new discipline by contesting the opening round of the Australian Off-Road Championship at Port Macquarie in New South Wales.

While McCoy will enter the round as a relatively unknown quantity against the proven enduro guns, don’t be too surprised if he does well since he has spent a lot of time riding with guys like Brad Williscroft and Glen Kearney in the past.

This weekend actually sees a whole new era for the AORC as there’s a new promoter in town, taking over from the departed Dirt Bike Promotions and hopefully continuing to grow the series.

As for the rider line-up, defending champion Toby Price should be strong on his Motorex KTM after winning the title last year with Kawasaki, however he’ll have to keep Ballards Wellard Yamaha’s Stefan Merriman under control if he is to retain the numero uno.

Former triple champion Anthony Roberts is back with his own team with direct factory support from Honda, while I’m sure the series will miss Peter Boyle as he is expected to return to Motocross.

In the E1 class you’ll be hard pressed to look past Jarrod Bewley on the Motorex KTM, while his teammate Ben Grabham, Yamaha’s Kirk Hutton, Husaberg’s Geoff Braico and TM’s Josh Green will all be super quick in the E3 category.

Add massive amounts of rain into the mix and we have for a very exciting opening weekend of off-road action to kick-off season 2010.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks on the ASBK front since the season opener at Phillip Island last month, although the good news is that the season opener is just around the corner on 9-11 April.

The big news here is that it’s expected there’ll be another entry on the grid in 2003 series champion and last year’s top privateer Craig Coxhell, returning with his CJC Racing effort and expected to be debuting BMW’s sensational new S 1000 RR.

One thing that seemed to slip past observers at round one was the fact that Team Suzuki has lost Joe Rocket as its title sponsor for this season, although everything did remain the same as far as the look of the bikes goes – basically it was just the name that was missing.

If you’re looking for some good racing at Hidden Valley then I’d say you’re going to get it, because pretty much every top Superbike rider that I’ve spoken to since round one has told me that they are going to win round two. We’ll see what happens!

MOTOGP
Yamaha’s factory MotoGP World Championship team is set to remain with 800cc engines for 2012, with initial indications being that the team won’t utilise the 1000cc engines that will be eligible for the season.

Reports suggest that current world champion Valentino Rossi has been informed of the decision, sparking further rumours of a switch to the Ducati Marlboro team, which is believed to be planning 1000cc engines already.

Ducati’s move could force the Japanese factory efforts to follow in developing 1000s, however Honda has also indicated that it is considering sticking with the 800cc RC212V for 2012 at least, as has Suzuki.

The 2012 season will be a confusing one for most, where selected teams will remain with the current 800cc configuration, others will develop 1000cc prototypes, and privateer teams will have an opportunity to run production-based engines.

2010 will mark a transition year of sorts, just like in 2002 when factory teams had four-stroke 990cc engines while the privateer efforts remained with the outgoing 500cc two-strokes.

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Nicky Hayden remains cautious despite setting the third fastest time at the recent Sepang test in Malaysia, proving his best performance on the Desmosedici since joining the squad last season.

The 2006 MotoGP World Champion has struggled since the series switched to 800cc engines the following season, although his hopes are on the rise since his strongest test in a number of seasons at Sepang.

Hayden’s best lap of 2:00.703 was just under half a second off fastest man Rossi’s best, the American setting his fastest ever lap of Sepang in the process directly behind teammate Casey Stoner.

Despite recent surgery to relieve arm-pump, Hayden credits his boost in form to an improved set-up, dispelling any speculation that his arm was holding him back previously.

Although Hayden has had a boost in confidence after his test performance on the big-bang engined Ducati, the real test will come when the series commences at the Losail Circuit in Qatar in April, where teammate Casey Stoner has proven the bike’s potential with three straight victories at the middle eastern circuit.

Australian Garry McCoy will test with the FB Corse team next week on 15-16 March, riding at Valencia in front of representatives from Dorna and IRTA to see if the team is good enough to compete in motorcycling’s premier class.

McCoy will have to set a time within three seconds of race pace at Valencia, being in the 1:35 range, however McCoy also had the same task with Ilmor in 2006 and got the job done, so you’d expect they should be okay this time unless the FB01 simply isn’t up to the task.

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MOTO2
The official control engines for the Moto2 World Championship arrived in time for the Valencia test last week, Honda making the initial delivery on the eve of the test.

This year’s Moto2 category will feature Honda engines based off the legendary CBR600RR production bike, however they’re prepared as race engines and delivered directly to the teams ready for the spec series.

Concern was initially high for teams entering the new-look series as the engine delivery was delayed to February, just a couple of months out from the opener at Qatar in April, however the Valencia test marked a smooth transition for most.

In preparation for the control engine’s arrival, teams purchased their own World Supersport-spec Honda CBR600RR engines to fit into their prototype chassis, although it’s believed that the Moto2 engines are less powerful for durability.

Australian Anthony West’s MZ team took the production flavour a step further, using a complete World Supersport bike with minimal cosmetic changes in initial testing.

The question is, will it be good enough to meet regulations if the team is to move from the provisional entry list to a confirmed participant? Probably not, unfortunately.

That’s all for this week’s edition of RI, thanks for reading!