Movement behind the scenes in the lead-up to the Australian Supercross Championship is taking place as we speak, with the three-event series just over eight weeks away. As we know, that time will go by in a flash and upon us will be the latest chapter in the sport.

For organisers, led by Yarrive Konsky but no longer promoted by International Entertainment Group (IEG) as such, this year’s series is make or break. Don’t expect it to be as ‘flash’ as years gone by, but what the majority would like to see is a nice, consistent package to build from.

Let’s hope the foundations formed in 2014 can be built upon in coming seasons. Funnily enough, I think I can recall writing that before when it comes to supercross on a national level within Australia.

Personally and primarily at least from a media perspective, I like the calendar featuring the Bathurst event on the weekend of V8 Supercars’ great race, then the ever-popular MotoGP rounds at Phillip Island and a return indoors at Brisbane Entertainment Centre to wrap it all up.

It covers the three major states for now and each stop has its own unique merit. If the competitor support is there and all the fundamentals are in place, supercross could well and truly be revived in this country after all. And I believe we need it.

Even if ASX remains a short calendar, it’s a very engaging way to attract fans and maintain them as well, so fingers crossed Konsky can make it financial sustainable with Motorcycling Australia and work toward the future.

What’s also important right now is how the teams will sit. We already know that Yamaha’s factory teams – CDR, Serco and GYTR – aren’t entering, but positions are up for grabs at Team Motul Suzuki alongside Matt Moss, at Penrite Honda (only Josh Cachia in confirmed in SX2), KTM next to Kirk Gibbs (it doesn’t appear Ford Dale will be back) and also Husqvarna (only Egan Mastin is a shoe-in right now).

But regardless, before any of that goes down, we have two epic rounds of the Monster Energy MX Nationals to come this month and we’re keen to see it all go down. That’s it from me for this week, here’s Simon Makker…

Every now and again a result comes across our desk that leaves us both surprised and stoked. This weekend, youngster Jett Lawrence provided that for us when he won the 65cc division at the Junior Motocross World Championships at Belgium.

On top of that, Western Australia’s Caleb Grotheus came within two points of winning the ultra-competitive 85cc class, pushing Australia up to fifth overall on the country rankings.
Results like this are a real boost for the local Australian scene and we’ve been witnessing such results for a number of years now.

Kids who race against the groms who went over and represented this country can readily identify with the impressive results they scored and in a sense, it makes it more attainable.

Hopefully this will not only see a huge surge in the speed of the juniors coming through the ranks, but will also attract more sponsorship dollars and funding in order for these passionate kids and their families to attend more of these top-level events.

Closer to home, KTM privateer pilot Brenden Harrison announced that he’s going to sit out the remaining two rounds of the MX Nationals this week. Citing a niggling knee injury, Harry has opted to give himself some more time to heal in order to fight for the upcoming Australian Supercross Championship SX Lites title.

It’s nothing out of the ordinary for rider lists and starting gates to have been thinned out with injuries by this stage of a 10-round championship, but I’m hoping a tonne of Queensland riders make the effort to travel to Gladstone next weekend for what promises to be an awesome round.

Not only will there be plenty of great racing going down, but it’s going to be plenty of emotion as we celebrate 10 years since the late, great Jono Porter passed away. It would be truly fitting to see full gates across all classes as a mark of respect at this penultimate round of the championship.

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