There was a certain buzz in the air during last weekend’s opening round of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals at Horsham, signifying the series is on course for a huge year ahead as we all anticipated. It was a spectacular start to the year and our content has been attracting massive numbers because of that.

Chances of returning internationals Dean Ferris and Todd Waters simply running away with the MX1 title have heavily reduced, with the likes of eventual round winner Matt Moss, defending champion Kirk Gibbs and more all putting it to them.

And the funny thing is, not everybody had great days at Horsham. While Moss started the season on the right foot – even though he’s still convinced he will be stronger again in coming rounds – there were so many that felt more was to come. The fact that Moss didn’t even make Super Pole shows that there are plenty with sheer pace.

There has actually been revisions made to the Super Pole process this year. Last year it was five points to win it, four points for second, three points for third, and so on. Now, it’s three to win, two for second and one for third. Fourth and fifth places in qualifying no longer get points.

And that’s what we now see Moss and Gibbs, who was second overall last Sunday, tied for points in the championship following the opener. Moss won the overall by a point, but since Gibbs was third in Super Pole that bumped him up to equal in the standings. We’re yet to see if both will be wearing the red plate at Appin or if it’ll revert to a countback for Moss to be the sole owner.

But it was definitely a great round overall, we enjoyed it a lot even if things on our end didn’t exactly go to plan (sometimes you have to roll the dice for round one) and we’ll be one of those that have to regroup and come back stronger for round two. Sounds strange, but we have high expectations here at MotoOnline.com.au.

And the action doesn’t stop there because now we’re onto yet another huge weekend of racing. The Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship resumes with rounds three and four, AMA Supercross reaches Indy, MXGP has arrived in Argentina and the World Enduro Championship fires up in Morocco. It’s never-ending at this point all season long.

And with that, I’m going to wrap my section of Moto 360 up this afternoon, and hand this over to Adam Spence…

Round one of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals certainly had an exciting vibe to it, everyone was feeling fresh and very ready to go – you could feel it throughout the pits. The off-season felt long for us here at MotoOnline.com.au, but I’m sure it felt twice as long for each and every rider at the event.

Personally, I was pumped to see my overall championship favourites kick off their 2016 campaigns with wins at round one. Some may say it was a risky choice putting Matt Moss and Caleb Ward as my number ones this season, but after seeing their pre-season preparations, I had a feeling they’d be the men to beat.

In saying that though, these two riders aren’t just sitting in a class of their own, not at all. Their competitors are right there behind them, the competition this year is very strong. The fact that Moss and Kirk Gibbs finished on the same points for the round and the MX2 podium was separated by just one point, it’s an obvious indicator that we’ve got an awesome year ahead of us.

Mossy was back to his old self, man-handling his Kawasaki KX450F around the Horsham circuit, and Gibbs was looking as smooth as ever – you couldn’t even tell he’s coming back from a serious injury late last year.

Dean Ferris won the opening moto and had himself in a good position to make a run at the overall in moto two before he crashed on his own. He was visibly upset with himself post-race, so be sure to keep an eye on him at Appin.

Todd Waters rode the much of the first moto with a flat front tyre. If anyone has tried doing that at the local track, you’ll know it’s no fun and not easy at all. Speaking on the line before moto two, Waters admitted it was a scary situation jumping those rather solid obstacles with no air in his front tube, but he’s clearly one talented and brave human being – super impressed.

As Alex said, we pushed ourselves at round one to really up the level of our content, we may not have perfectly hit the mark, but we’ll be heading to round two with a revised plan of attack. We’re always pushing to bring our viewers the best possible coverage we can and we’ll be hitting our home round of Appin even harder come 17 April.

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