News filtering through this week that the Monster Energy MX Nationals organisers will stand up and get behind the Blake Colleton fundraisers comes much welcomed as the teenager faces a difficult road to recovery from a serious back injury.

To see Colleton’s progress at a distance via Facebook has been inspiring in so many ways, both professionally and personally, as this young inspiring racer works to regain the best health and fitness he can.

Motocrossers are a tough breed, we already know that, but to see the likes of Colleton and Harley Quinlan (plus unfortunately many others throughout the years) remain so positive and on top of that striving to make a difference, it’s a real testament to the type of people these guys are.

The aforementioned MX Nationals fundraising dinner for Colleton will take place on the Saturday night of Raymond Terrace (details available here), and then coming up, Racing 4 Disabled – founded by Quinlan and Ford Dale – will host a fundraising golfing event in the lead-up to Coolum.

As a member of the Australian motocross community, these things ultimately make me proud to be involved in the sport and I sincerely hope that we all get behind these guys and help them now and the sport’s future. Well done to all who have contributed.

Speaking of Dale, his run of injuries lately must be taking a toll on him and it’s even led some to question his future in the sport. When do you say enough’s enough? Or do you keep following your dreams in a bid to be the champion? Those are the questions he must be facing as we speak.

There’s no doubt Dale has what it takes to succeed in the sport (and he already has on the 250F in 2012), but it’s fair to say that sometimes well-being is paramount in any sport. Whatever Ford decides to do, he’ll be recognised as one of the sport’s finest in the modern era.

Off the back of Jay Marmont’s retirement it’s also been heavily rumoured that Ryan Marmont will join him in exiting the sport, but that’s not entirely accurate as it stands. ‘Doggy’ has split with Raceline Suzuki and we’re unlikely to see him outdoors again this year, but SX is in the plans if he can secure a seat.

The same is actually pretty similar for Jay, as he hasn’t ruled out riding for somebody other than CDR Yamaha in supercross to wrap up his career since Yamaha isn’t committing to the series. I’ll tell you what though, it’d be strange to see Marmont officially take his final chequered flag with any team other than CDR.

The difference between Jay and Ryan right now is that Jay is definitely bowing out at the end of 2014, while Ryan hasn’t completely made up his mind. The smart money though, all things considered, is that we won’t see him lining up fulltime in 2015.

Word is that Daniel McCoy has actually parted ways with Craig Anderson’s factory Husqvarna Motocross Racing Team following Conondale. No stranger to switching teams and brands, McCoy was seen on his personal RM250 at Appin just yesterday, but again, he is one that really wants a supercross deal more than anything else for the future.

Shifting gears to America before we wrap this up, it was confirmed that Chad Reed has split with Dunlop due to what’s believed to be commercial reasons and his involvement with Discount Tire, then making his debut on Pirellis at Millville despite no branding on the bike. Who’d have thought!

I’d love to know what he thinks of the Italian brand though, which has had so much success in GPs, and we need to keep a close eye on any further developments over the coming months. It’s well known that Reed is very selective of his tyre choice, that is for sure.

The ever-consistent effort of Brett Metcalfe has to be applauded in place of Ryan Villopoto, carrying a top five placing in the standings after eight rounds, but he’s been somewhat below the radar.

As a fill-in guy, the type of results he’s grabbing are superb, but this is motocross and as we know, so much of the spotlight goes toward the winners on any given race day – even here in Australian competition. Needless to say though, we’re loving seeing Metty back in the mix.

And before I depart here, I just wanted to give a big shoutout to longtime contributor and moto photo ace Simon Makker, who had an incident on his mountain bike after work last night and suffered a badly broken ankle. Heal up mate, we look forward to your return!

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