Australian motocross could be the most competitive ever in 2016 with news all but certain that Todd Waters will return home from the MXGP World Championships to become a clear title threat for the first time since 2013.

Waters challenged for the national MX1 title in both 2012 and 2013 before embarking on an international career, however after just two years it seems he’s coming home after Husqvarna confirmed its 2016 roster without him.

Initially the word was that Waters would be remaining with Husqvarna after a decent year, but more recently he was linked to a factory Husqvarna team in Australia. And now, he’s been tipped to join the private Wilson MX team for his return home next year.

None of that’s set in stone obviously, but the fact is that there’s a very real possibility we will have our two most recent grand prix exports – Waters and CDR Yamaha-bound Dean Ferris – back on home solid for good next season. Combine that with our current domestic line-up and it makes for a remarkable level of racing here in Australia.

While it’s definitely disappointing to see these guys cut their MXGP careers short, it’s extremely positive for the sport locally and we’re eager to see how it all pans out. And for those still keen on seeing Aussies on the world stage, keep track of the youthful Hunter and Jett Lawrence, who just inked a long-term factory Kawasaki contract in Europe – at just 16 and 12 years of age!

It’s a natural step for the Lawrences considering their dominance of Australian racing at a junior level and one that’s unprecedented in terms of young Aussies being developed in Europe by a factory team. Hopefully over the next year or two they can really find comfort overseas (their whole family is heading over) and then we will see Australian world champions in the future. It’s going to be fascinating to follow.

That’s it from me for this week’s edition, I will pass this over to Simon Makker for his take on all that’s been going on…

Wow, what a hectic week of announcements. Ben Townley announces his comeback to professional racing with Suzuki, James Stewart announces he’s pulling out of the AUS-X Open but returns after some heavy negotiations with the promoters, the Husqvarna MXGP team line-up for 2016 is released but there’s no mention of Todd Waters, while Matt Phillips was also left off the team roster for the KTM team for the Enduro World Championship (word on the street he’s signed with Sherco for 2016).

With so much going on over the past few weeks, another big announcement was also snuck into the stack of news, but has been by and largely overlooked. That news is the announcement that Red Bull is dramatically slashing its hugely popular X-Fighters World Tour from a full-blown series to one stand-alone event in 2016. That one-off contest will be held at the original birthplace of the spectacular, high-budget series, the Plaza del Toros in Madrid, Spain.

For professional FMX riders, the move is a serious kick, with every high-profile contest – X Games, Dew Tour, Gravity Games and now X-Fighters – going the way of the Tassie tiger. X-Fighters was the one contest that the sport’s elite could aim for and compete at the highest level. The evolution of the sport and new wave of tricks that riders were coming up with was wholly and solely based around the success of Red Bull’s six-round series.

With only one event for these guys to now look forward to, it doesn’t take much brain-power to figure out that this is going to put a serious dent in the income and sponsorship dollars that these guys pull in. After all, who’d want to pay the same money for just a sixth of the exposure? And as a rider, who’d then want to put his life on the line and learn new death-defying tricks and spins for less money?

There’s always a chance that another big series will come along and resurrect the sport in the same way that BMX has seen a big contest revival of late, but for now, times are certainly grim for the once lucrative sport. The only way a rider can make any sort of regular income from here on is to either sign with Nitro Circus Live or become a demo king with the likes of Showtime FMX and ARD.

We’re hoping we don’t have to wait too long for another promoter to step up and create a high-profile series and breathe new life into the sport. The level of FMX has gone through the roof over the past few years and there’s still so much potential for that to continue developing. The only thing missing is the means to the end.

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