You’ve got to love the Motocross of Nations and the hype that surrounds the event year in, year out, all around the world. It’s a mega event and for me in 2014 it was of particular interest due to the added domestic flavour of Matt Moss and Luke Clout in Team Australia.

Alongside international legend Chad Reed, the Aussies displayed plenty of potential, but ultimately fell short of success in qualifying or the main events on Sunday. Still, what an experience and on our end, the website traffic was phenomenal.

There’s no doubt many were majorly impressed by Clout and his top 10 performance in MX2, on board the a YZ250F from that Kemea Yamaha team that countryman Luke Styke raced for and was far from a fan of in the MX2 World Championship this year.

As for Moss, he hopped aboard a full factory Suzuki RM-Z450 from Clement Desalle’s team alongside moto winner Kevin Strijbos, but ultimately had troubles finding comfort. It was a major risk and from the outside, looks like it was one that didn’t pay off.

Reed has been weighing up revised packages himself, coming off a mid-season switch to Pirelli and now a further change to Ohlins suspension that could extend into the new year including supercross. Interesting times ahead for the TwoTwo, but remember, when Michael Byrne raced a few nationals earlier in the year he was using Ohlins so it’s not completely new to the team.

It’s at this point that we look ahead to supercross, with Simon Makker below. Some late mail though is that Jake Moss has injured his shoulder in a practice crash and will attempt to race Bathurst at least, so we will keep an eye on that.

Also one of the worst kept secrets is that Lawson Bopping will partner Matt Moss at Suzuki, but the team is waiting on Jay Foreman and co. to return from Europe before announcing anything. Judging by his form in America earlier this year, Bopping will be a darkhorse for the series.

Righto, here’s Simon Makker for the latest from his end…

While everyone’s focus has been on the weekend’s Motocross Of Nations for the past several weeks, the Australian Supercross Championship has really snuck up on us. It’s frightening to think that the opening two rounds of the championship will be in the books in 12 days’ time

The rapid change of focus is going to be felt by defending champion Matt Moss more than any other rider. After dedicating the past 10 months to racing outdoors and defending his MX Nationals title, Mossy then had to continue practicing in the lead-up to the MXoN while everyone got their bikes, eyes and bodies dialed in for supercross

Now that the high-profile event is in the books, Moss and his mechanic Jess Foreman arrived back into Australia yesterday and have just 10 days to prepare for Moss’s second title defence this year.

If any rider is capable of the challenge, it’s Moss and you can bet he’ll be pounding out more laps than any other rider this week as he gets his eye in for the tighter, more technical circuits.

The upcoming series became a whole lot more interesting this week with the announcement that a good number of American riders, including East Coast SX Lites racers Kyle Peters and 2012 champion Gavin Faith, will bolster the starting gates.

Peters will race alongside Luke Wilson for the Jetpilot Wilson Honda team, while Faith will again represent the Penrite Oils Honda Racing outfit.

Other internationals include Chris Plouffe and Jake Lyon (Boardstix Tapout Energy Race Team alongside Taylor Potter), and 17-year-old Keith Tucker, who’ll race the MX1 class with support from the Penrite Oils Honda Racing outfit.

With the inclusion of these guys, the return of supercross specialist Australians Taylor Potter, Jackson Richardson and Jake Vella, and the likes of Josh Cachia, Ryan Marmont, Jay Marmont and Jesse Dobson changing teams mid-season, the championship might be short in duration, but there should be no shortage of action and battles.

Now all we have to do is wait and see if the gamble pays off for the promoters hosting the first two rounds in the same town and on the same weekend as the Bathurst 1000 V8 Supercars endurance race.

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