What a week it has been in the world of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, a true mix of both highs and lows for Australian fans. Coming off the high of great results in San Diego, we were all excited to see the Aussies do even better in Dallas on Saturday night.

That was all shaping up just perfectly too, with Ryan Villopoto leading the 450 class main event early on from Aussie Chad Reed. All of a sudden we had a repeat of sorts from San Diego, but Chad seemed to be the in-form man once again. The rest though, as we already know, is history.

Chad went down on lap seven, injuring his left ACL, tibia/fibia bones in his left left, his T6 vertebra and also two ribs. It’s not what anybody likes to see in any sport, but we all knew it was a serious incident when he declined to remount the TwoTwo. After all, if he could remount after that crash at Spring Creek, he’s return to the race after just about anything unless his body really wouldn’t let him.

It’s a devastating end to the season for Chad, which I reported on yesterday in ‘The Go’ column, but now is when the real questions begin to surface. Who (if anybody) will replace Chad on his own team? When will he return? Can he regain the explosive form he had shown so far this year?

For one, I have no idea right now whether we’ll see TwoTwo Motorsports for the remainder of supercross. Chad certainly isn’t riding, and the truck is on its way back to California, so whether or not it’s even worth putting somebody on the bike would have to depend on sponsor obligations. Considering the talent that is around at the moment unsigned and the depth of the 450 field, it may do TwoTwo more harm than good to run with the risk of not qualifying.

Something to ponder though is that Jake Moss is unsigned right now, has been a super-sub of sorts previously in his career, and has a close relationship with Chad (as does Matt). It’s an unlikely scenario, I know, but would be a fairytale of sorts if he could make it happen and do well out of it (just look at Cody Mackie).

Apart from him though, you’d have to look inside the Honda camp. Would Justin Barcia be an ideal candidate on the West Coast? Or would Eli Tomac be good for a few East Coast races? They certainly would be, but conflicting gear sponsorships make those scenarios almost impossible you’d think.

Question two: when will Chad be back? He’s aiming for the outdoors, but man that is close considering all of his injuries. With just three months to heal (and he hasn’t even had surgery yet), it’s a big ask for him to come out firing at Hangtown. I have no doubt that he’ll be back soon enough, but maybe not as soon as we all hope depending on the severity of his injuries. Anybody have Ben Townley’s number?

Final question: can the TwoTwo come back as strong as he was when he crashed out in Texas? You betcha. I have no doubt whatsoever that he’ll be back and well in contention. Besides, I know just how much he was enjoying leaving James Stewart in his wake, week in, week out! In the meantime though, lets hope some of the U.S. media use Chad to their advantage for some colour insights.

In other news, Cody Mackie is on track to continue with Jeff Ward Racing and it’s looking more and more likely that he’ll race the rest of the supercross season in the U.S. for the team. He declined to comment when I asked him on the phone this morning, but from what I understand, a deal is in the works as we speak – good for him too!

Matt Moss has arrived back in Australia on break from the West Coast Lites series in America, spotted out at Mt. Kembla last Saturday putting in some solid motos. It would seem he already has the outdoors in mind, plus a bit of work with Moss Institute and his dad Greg Moss should have him even stronger for the final AMA SX rounds out west.

It’s been a full week since Global Action Sports announced that it’d be axing Super X, sending shockwaves through the sport on a domestic level. Not only that, but I’ve had friends and publications from overseas contacting me for some inside info to the series’ collapse, meaning that it’s making headlines on a global level.

Yarrive Konksy’s International Entertainment Group is clearly the favourite to take over the Australian Supercross Championship. He has long said that he wants to promote a premier dirt bike championship in Australia and now is his chance. It’s important to note that he too runs Motorcycling Australia’s official Australian Superbike Championship through IEG.

Will it be better? Will it be worse? How will he run it while still managing the factory Honda race team? We don’t know just yet, but at the end of the day it’s comforting to see a serious race promoter in line and willing to host the series to keep Australian Supercross afloat.

I did have an idea recently regarding supercross, simply being that why not return to an arena or two during the season? Acer Arena isn’t bad, plus I reckon with a mix of showground type venues, it could produce a pretty strong homegrown series. What would be even better (or even in addition), as Kevin Williams mentioned recently, was to have a series of smaller venues before building up to a massive finale in a national level stadium.

So yeah, it’s been a pretty disappointing week for the sport in a lot of ways, but I have a feeling that the best is definitely yet to come in 2012. How can we not be exciting for the season ahead with a truly world class international line-up on our soil for the MX Nationals? I can’t wait.

Today we’re at the launch of the 2012 model WR450F in Coffs Harbour, so I’ll finish this edition of the Insider off here and go hit the trail! Stay tuned for the Launch Test to be uploaded on the site within the next week.