Two rounds into the 2016 Motul MX Nationals, we’ve seen no less than nine riders – Dean Ferris, Matt Moss, Brett Metcalfe, Caleb Ward, Wilson Todd, Kale Makeham, Connor Tierney, Mitch Evans and Jordan Hill – win motos across MX1, MX2 and MXD.

It’s an amazing statistic 12 races in when you think about it, in a sport that’s historically seen very few riders able to truly be in the frame for race wins. Sure, many are capable, but the usual suspects always emerge both here and internationally.

And now it seems as though the broader motocross community is really catching onto the level of the sport here in Australia. Those who tune into American racing are increasingly starting to take interest in the sport locally, which is a great thing.

Of course, there are no hard direct statistics to prove what I’ve stated above, but it is indicated through our data and analytics captured via MotoOnline.com.au. Crossover of fans between our international and Aussie coverage is higher than ever.

And on top of that, interest from internationals, be it in the US or MXGP, is immense. Without even sending it on, the likes of Racer X Online, Vital MX and more are sharing our content and we have some handy relationships globally to help.

The tradition of riders aiming to go and race overseas has always assisted in lifting the bar here, however it’s also getting to the point where for riders like Matt Moss, remaining in Australia and forging a career here rewarding in a number of ways.

It will be interesting if Dean Ferris and Todd Waters do return to Europe at the end of this season (or further down the track) as the initially hoped, or if they end up saying ‘you know what, Australia is actually where I want to be’.

The goal of being a world champion can’t be replaced here, but the general professionalism when it comes to team personnel and lifestyle is certainly on point here at home. And as a top rider, you can make a really good living on home soil.

Australian motocross is in a good place at the moment, the industry is getting behind it in ways that I’ve never witnessed before, and we’re all winning thanks to the sheer strength of social media. Engagement has to be at its all-time highest right now!

And for us, on a weekend where there’s actually very minimal racing on that we cover (just American Supercross and the Australian Off-Road Championship), I’m going to pass this over to Adam Spence and go make the most of it. Have a great Anzac Day…

Wasn’t last weekend’s second round of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals an awesome event? The racing was super-tight, the weather held off and it turned out great overall.

For us here at MotoOnline.com.au the Appin event is always a nice change of pace, being that it’s our local event, but that doesn’t mean we slowed down one bit during the day.

We welcomed the addition of Jordy Deckert to the team to provide additional footage throughout the day for our own event coverage and other projects we’re also working on with Foremost Media.

Speaking of our coverage of the event on the film side of things, it’s my role here as production manager to compile footage and produce our films – Highlights and more – from each and every round throughout the season.

Nine times out of 10 we receive plenty of praise for our efforts and it’s much appreciated, because a whole lot of time and effort goes into those videos we release every Monday post-race.

Following Appin’s round two we received a few slightly negative comments regarding our films, mainly due to the choice of music rather than voiceover, so I just wanted to touch on that quickly.

With just myself on track for each moto of the day shooting, it’s impossible to capture quality vision of every second of every race. That, compared to overseas, restricts the way in which we can compile the Highlights especially.

NRGTV do a neat job of capturing the events in that manner, so for everyone out there who’s interested in TV style coverage with commentary, you’ve got that there for you either live or each Wednesday after the event.

For us, we try to create an engaging film that captures the vibe of the event, the action and the battles we can capture. It’s a case of resources that limit us, but we are assessing a few tweaks to meet in the middle when it comes to context.

We know we can’t please each and every viewer out there, but we’re working our hardest to cater to as broad an audience as possible. In the past, when we have used voiceovers or otherwise, we had many requests for films without the speaking.

As I mentioned, there were only a few comments regarding this during the week and criticism is something we are totally fine with, not a problem at all. And we do take it into account.

I just wanted to take this opportunity now to explain why we do what we do and the reason why we’re unable to create content that you may rather see personally (some have suggested Highlights more similar to America or GPs, which piggybacks the TV coverage).

In saying that, overall the response to our 2016 coverage to date has been awesome and we really appreciate the kind words of support.

We’re going to continue lifting the bar in Australian motocross media each and every day and we’ll continue to do so for years to come.

It’s a tough gig out there in the field trying to make magic, so to all of our supporters out there, thank you, we really do appreciate it!

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