American Motocross
Freestone’s second round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship will be run and won this weekend, with Australia’s very own Chad Reed leading the series to Texas after a remarkable debut outdoor win with TwoTwo Motorsports at Hangtown last Saturday. With weather conditions predicted to be around 33 degrees come this weekend at Freestone, it’ll mark the first real test of fitness this season. And the best thing? MotoOnline.com.au will be there first hand!

Directly after Hangtown, many of the teams and top riders travelled straight to Texas in order to get some testing done on fresh tracks in the heat for the week in advance. That included Aussie Brett Metcalfe, so hopefully it pays off for him come the weekend!

One thing that many have been speaking of after last week was Chad Reed’s surprise outright speed outdoors, where he was on the pace from the outset and eventually took the overall with a 2-1 result. Chad Reed winning races isn’t a surprise, nor is his will to win when the going gets tough, and that’s exactly why he’ll be in the hunt all year long this summer.

Aussies will be able to see if Reed can continue his form this weekend at Freestone when the round is shown live on SPEED at 7.00am on Sunday morning. It will be the first time this year that the nationals are on live in Australia, and the telecast will go for a full two hours!

Speaking of Reed, he’ll be on ESPN in Australia tonight at 8.00pm for an edition of Aussies Abroad, following him through parts of his AMA Supercross season after forming his own team. The sneak peeks look fantastic, so that’ll be one you won’t want to miss – even if it does mean skipping the State of Origin!

While Reed’s fan base has grown massively over the last couple of years due to a variety of reasons, James Stewart’s has plummeted after sitting out the outdoors and being involved in a heap of bizarre incidents/circumstances. An interesting Twitter battle went down yesterday between MotoOnline columnist Steve Matthes against Stewart and his manfriend Eric Sorby after Matthes said he heard Stewart may be heading to Suzuki for 2012. Stranger things have happened…

Australian Motocross
Just about any top pro you speak to will admit that the Toowoomba conditions at Echo Valley during last week’s MX Nationals round were some of the toughest they’d ever experienced. The rutty, sticky conditions had the best in the country looking like amateurs at times, indicating just how difficult it was to negotiate. In the end a Kiwi won the Opens as so many predicted, however it was Dan McCoy who kept it upright to win the Lites.

The injury list in 2011 just keeps on growing, with Matt Moss racing with a fractured shoulder blade during the Toowoomba round. Moss had broken it while practicing at Coonabarabran just days earlier, but he was able to brave the pain and retain his series lead. JDR Motorex KTM teammate Josh Cachia also raced with a broken hand, finishing a spectacular third overall. Between Moss, Cachia, Ryan Marmont and Dan Reardon (plus PJ Larsen’s wrist injury in the U.S)!, the JDR Motorex KTM team has had an incredibly unlucky run to date this year!

CDR Rockstar Energy Yamaha has been struggling in the mud races so far this year, prompting the team to carry out some wet weather testing at Coolum directly following Toowoomba. Both Jay Marmont and Josh Coppins haven’t been able to match their rivals when the rain falls so far, with all things indicating that the aggressive nature of the YZ450F is making it hard for them to gain traction in slick conditions.

Hydraulic clutches continue to pop up in the MX Nationals pit, with Dan McCoy’s Rockstar Motul Suzuki featuring one for the first time at Toowoomba on the weekend. Teammate Cody Cooper hadn’t had the chance to test one yet, but expect him to have one by the time the next round comes around.

Craig Anderson may be coming back from the sixth round of the MX Nationals next month at Coonabarabran, but we’re hearing that Adam Monea’s time on the team may not be over just yet. Monea has done a very nice job filling in for Ando, but the word is that he may do some more races this season.

The South Pacific Open at Wollongong scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled, according to the club’s website. “Unfortunately due to a lack of entries we have had to cancel the South Pacific Open this weekend. All entries will be refunded. There will be practice as normal this weekend and the track will be fully groomed,” said a post on the website. It’s a shame because many top pros were set to compete.

Australian Off Road
The third and fourth rounds of the 2011 Yamaha Australian Off Road Championship (AORC) will take place this weekend on 28 and 29 May, set to be a massive dual between Toby Price and Chris Hollis. The round will also mark the Aussie return of former World Enduro rider Josh Green, riding a TM in the E2 class.

That’s all for now, thanks for checking by and stay tuned for news and features while we are here in the U.S. over the next couple of weeks!