The opening round of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals series is upon us, finally, as Horsham stages the opener tomorrow. And judging by the vibe in the pit area today, we’re going to witness some incredibly good racing.

MotoOnline.com.au will be on the ground all year long with what we feel like is our best strategy yet, which along with the MX Nationals and NRG TV coverage, will deliver all you need to know for this season.

We’ve teamed up with NRG TV to create MotoOnline.com.au Highlights films again this year, as we used to, and they will be available and ready to view following all 10 rounds.

In fact, our association with Williams Event Management gains strength every single season, which extends into the Inside Dirt digital magazine and our entire team is supportive of the content sharing that we do with them. It’s a win, win.

Onto today, it’s just about impossible to pick a winning rider across all three classes tomorrow, let alone a podium or top five in each. From Ferris to Waters, Moss and Reardon, plus everyone in between, there’s a stack of top riders in the mix.

The rider coming into round one with the number one plate is of course Kirk Gibbs, who put together such an epic campaign one year ago for KTM’s first premier class title in Australia. He’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.

It’s such a broad mixture of experience in the series this season and another particular aspect we can’t wait to witness is Crankt Protein Honda Racing’s debut with the youthful combination of Jay Wilson and Dylan Long.

Both riders have proven supremely popular over the past 12 months and let’s not forget, Wilson is the reigning – albeit unassuming – MX2 national champion. He has serious form on his side as he moves up to the 450s.

A couple of things I found interesting today included the sheer specification of the top factory bikes. No corners have been cut in the development on these racers and as fans, you’ll be amazed just how professional the sport is locally in 2016.

Also of note was that stock exhaust systems are in use on more than one factory bike – CDR Yamaha’s Dean Ferris and Crankt Protein Honda Racing’s Jay Wilson. It’s a personal preference, but most of all indicates just how good they are these days.

From the MX1 to MX2 and MXD we’re anticipating an amazing year of racing and cannot wait to cover it the entire way. Right now everyone ‘feels good’ and the usual pre-race speak, but once the gates drop is when we really will see who’s ready.

And with that, I will hand over to our production manager Adam Spence, who is also working on a heap of Foremost Media projects during the series. Here he is with his take from Saturday…

It’s finally here! Round one of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals is upon us and I myself am super excited to get things underway here in Horsham.

My role as production manager with Foremost Media has kept me away from the website for much of the past few weeks as I mentioned, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping an eye on things and gearing up for an awesome season ahead.

Firstly, if you haven’t already, be sure to click here to view the 2016 KTM Motocross Racing Team intro film we put together last week and released earlier this week.

It was an awesome project to be a part of and it’s always fun to get those sneak peaks ahead of the opening round to really get you even more excited.

Arriving at Horsham to compile our Saturday Pre-Race film, the vibe around the pits was awesome and everyone is in great spirits ahead of the highly anticipated opener.

Both former MXGP contenders Todd Waters and Dean Ferris are looking comfortable and very ready to make their presence known on the Australian motocross scene. It’s definitely exciting to see some fresh, yet familiar faces in the pits.

One high profile returning Australian who kept things low key on the day was Brett Metcalfe. We ran into the likeable South Australian on his way back from dinner alongside SD3 Husqvarna teammate Luke Arbon.

This combination is interesting to see as the two spent time together training in the US during the off-season. Could Arbon enter the 2016 season firing with a rider of Metcalfe’s calibre and experience on his side? We’ll soon find out!

Each and every rider I spoke to today ensured me they were feeling great and couldn’t wait to get the racing underway, which is expected. But there was one rider who caught my attention slightly more than the others, that rider was Jesse Dobson.

When mentioning the awesome opportunity to fill in for the injured Luke Styke at factory KTM, he simply stated that he feels he belongs on that team. He’s confident, he’s on one of the best teams in the paddock, so let’s keep an eye on the young MX1 contender and see how he goes.

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