The bombshell finally broke this afternoon that Global Action Sports has officially quit promoting supercross, closing down the Super X, Australasian Supercross Championship, series.

Finances were the reasons given, but at the end of the day after four years, GAS is gone and don’t expect to see them back anytime soon. Instead, they’ll work on expanding Nitro Circus Live on a global scale.

So where does that leave Australian Supercross? You can’t blame GAS for pulling the pin if they were unable to be profitable after four years, but that doesn’t mean that another promoter won’t be able to make it work for them in the future.

Something new that GAS tried in 2011 was hosting a few rounds in showground-type venues, which really seemed to have a better atmosphere than the larger half-empty stadiums. This is something that I can see continue, at least for the most part.

Internationals were pretty much dropped from the series last year, which was both good and bad. Australia has a rich history in importing visiting Americans for guest rides (including Jeremy McGrath even before he was the King!), but it has to be done with a sustainable and realistic approach.

One of the more interesting rumours that has been going around is that Yarrive Konsky’s company could run the series. Konsky, through International Entertainment Group, already promotes the Australian Superbike Championship, but his first love is for motocross and supercross.

However, here is where things get tricky. Konsky also runs the factory Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing team in the MX Nationals and domestic supercross, which could produce problems from a variety of angles. That being said, I believe Konsky and co. could do a good job with the right support.

There has been speculation that Chad Reed is interested in expanding his TwoTwo Motorsports team into Australia, with some even suggesting that he’ll take over the factory Honda effort. That sounds pretty far-fetched to me at least for now, but who knows what the future could hold.

Adding fuel to the fire in all of this is the fact that just last week it was announced that TwoTwo is sharing technical information with Konsky’s Aussie team. It’s a pretty big puzzle we are playing with, but it’s all absolute speculation from a variety of sources for now nonetheless.

I did try to contact Konsky today but he was busy in meetings all day according to his office, while Matt Cousins of Reed’s Australian public relations agency, Fluid PR, remained tight-lipped on the subject. I have a feeling it’s all simply too early to tell right now. In addition, both Konsky and Reed use Fluid PR.

How about if Williams Event Management, the current MX Nationals promoter, took on supercross? I doubt that would happen and Kevin Williams hasn’t hinted toward it at all during conversations, but WEM too would do a good job if funding and resources were correct.

Williams was actually the general manager of Super X last year and has long looked after the competition side of things in the series, but his primary focus has to be the outdoors, which are absolutely booming at the moment.

There have even been rumours that Monster Energy was looking at promoting the series itself, which kind of came out of left field. Either way, lets hope that the energy drink giant stays on as title sponsor, because its association with the AMA series and our series has been priceless in recent years. No other brand could align the two better.

There is even the possibility of having single round promoters, where the series is sanctioned by MA, but there are multiple promoters round by round who play their part in running the series. It is in this arena that we could potentially begin to see some cross-promotion of supercross alongside other leading sporting events. What better night show could fans ask for?

Some have suggested we bring back Spokes Promotions and the iconic Supercross Masters, but realistically we are living in a very, very different world at this time. Not to say Spokes couldn’t do it, just to say that their old model wouldn’t necessarily be a success. By the way, check out some old school Supercross Masters action above!

Motorcycling Australia sent out a release this morning requesting expressions of interest from promoters, hoping the series will be run either in late 2012 or early 2013. Early bets are that it’ll be next year at the earliest, but hopefully that’s not the case. Otherwise, we’ll be going a full year without any supercross at all – probably a rebuilding year at that.

Regardless of all the hype and speculation surrounding the circumstances right now, I’m confident the show will go on and we will once again have a strong series. Australia is known for producing strong supercross riders and I can’t see that ceasing anytime soon, as long as we have good tracks to ride and good teams developing the riders.

Onto a different subject, I was lucky enough to attend the wedding of Ryan Marmont and longtime partner Chelsea in Fiji over the weekend on Plantation Island. It was a great time and a really nice wedding, with a lot of fun at the reception on top of that of course! Congratulations to the entire family.

Doggy is back from the U.S. now and will ride the outdoors here for JDR Motorex KTM, stepping back to the Pro Lites class. With momentum on his side from a lot of riding in America, this could be his best chance yet to regain the national title.

There have actually been a number of changes within the JDR camp of late, with news surfacing that former team manager Danny Ham has parted ways with the team. We’re not sure who will take over at this point, but time will once again tell the story.

Ryan Marmont’s elder brother Jay is also back at work this week, continuing to develop the Monster Energy Kawasaki KX450F, complete with Dunlop tyres. That move from Michelin was a vital one for Marmont, and he’s been riding on KYB suspension of late as well. We don’t have confirmation that the team has switched from Pro Circuit and Showa, but it looks that way.

Across the pond it was Ben Townley who again dominated in New Zealand at the first official round of their motocross series. His sweep of the event in all three motos was another warning shot that he means business in 2012, winning over Josh Coppins, Justin McDonald, Cody Cooper and Michael Phillips. For more from BT, check out this column he penned for MotoOnline on Monday.

Todd Waters’ debut for Suzuki didn’t go so well as he sat out after tweaking his back in moto two, but expect him to come back fighting at round two. He and Cooper will be interesting to watch all year long as they battle to be top Suzuki.

Pieces of the MX Nationals puzzle are all falling into place as we speak, with WEM confirming that Hervey Bay and Barrabool are back on the calendar. Entries opened today on the MX Nationals site via the new Tag Heuer timing system, so check that out when you get a moment. It’s pretty impressive and a great step forward for the sport.

Before we wrap it up here, how about Matt Moss’ first podium for JDR Motorsports in the U.S. at San Diego? It was a memorable performance and one we all knew he was capable of, so a big congratulations must go out to him and the team. The series will head east for now, but expect more top threes for Mossy before the year’s out.

It was actually an incredibly strong round for the Aussie contingent with Reedy in second, Brett Metcalfe in fourth and Cody Mackie 12th in the 450 class. Between them, Australia had plenty to cheer about on Sunday afternoon local time.

That’s about all I have to share for this week in what has been a pivotal day for the sport, but stay tuned tomorrow for more angles and breaking news regarding the supercross split. We’ll be at the forefront of news and opinion seeking as it happens.

In the meantime though, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/motoonline as well as Twitter at www.twitter.com/motoonline for the latest from behind the scenes.