The off-road season is well and truly underway, both nationally with the Australian Off-Road Championship, plus the leading series in Europe and the United States.

Luckily enough for us Aussies, we’ve had a really solid start to the year across the board on an international level. Matt Phillips won his first Enduro Junior world championship race in Argentina, but apart from that, we’ve also seen fine performances by Josh Strang (GNCC), Brett Metcalfe (WORCS) and Toby Price (Baja).

Before we go further though, yes that is the Brett Metcalfe that you may be used to seeing in the AMA supercross and motocross series, but before he races in Canada this year, he used Lake Havasu’s WORCS round as a training ground of sorts on his KX450F last weekend.

“It was one of the toughest tracks, I’ve raced here in 2006 and enjoyed it but I’ve never been here since then,” Metcalfe said. “I had the opportunity to come out and do it again.

“I am trying to get back in shape and what better way to spend two hours on your dirt bike – it was a really good time.”

Earlier in the month, of course Strang has made an exceptional start to his GNCC comeback, reaching the podium at round one and then backing that result up with a fourth at round two. And remember, he’s basically going it alone as a privateer in 2013.

The results from Phillips so far with Husqvarna in the EWC series aren’t a surprise since he is hugely capable and proven at the top level in Australia and the ISDE, but I think the decision for him to compete in the EJ category and build some confidence/experience will pay off in the coming seasons.

As for Price and Baja, he’s made it clear that success in those races is a massive goal of his and loves every aspect of them. A top five in the San Filepe 250 was a strong start for Toby, just days before returning home to the opening AORC event of the season.

The AORC opener was all Price and Motorex KTM Off Road Racing teammate Chris Hollis at Bulahdelah, splitting the wins and also leading their respective classes (E3 for Price and E2 for Hollis). The story of Hollis has been an interesting one over the past 12 months, struggling last year as the defending champion, but bouncing back early in 2013.

Hollis is known for his supreme work ethic and motivation to succeed, so it looks like the fulltime switch back to the 450 EXC has placed him in a good spot this year. Can he challenge Price all year long? Given his form at the opening rounds, that’s definitely a possibility.

CDR Yamaha’s Daniel Milner completed the Outright podium in rounds one and two on the YZ250F as top E1 finisher. His ultimate goal would be to score overall wins, but the challenge of Price and Hollis will make that somewhat difficult to achieve on a smaller displacement bike unless the track or conditions really suit the 250F. We will wait and see!

Plus, looking back to earlier in the year, we can’t forget the brilliant Aussie performances in the Dakar.

Overall though, it’s a good time for the sport of enduro at the moment and it’s obvious there’s a lot of support behind the discipline when we consider the amount of press releases and videos that are emailed through from week to week.