Round one of the Monster Energy MX Nationals has been and gone (can you believe it?), resulting in a phenomenal weekend that I’m prepared to go on the record and say was the best opener I’ve ever attended, either as a fan or in the media.

To me, the biggest buzz of the season has always been at Coolum for the finale, but this year, round one had it all and was a much, much better venue than Broadford (2011) or Horsham (2010) to get things underway. There’s just something about the Sunshine Coast that works for the outdoors.

What I feel we are seeing is a bit of continuation in the sport. The local media has always been very supportive of Coolum, so to commence the season around 80 kilometres southwest a few months later makes sense in my opinion.

The Sunshine Coast Daily (leading local paper up there) supports the sport well, plus Seven and WIN Sunshine Coast both featured stories in the lead-up and following the round. The big coup was having Nine Brisbane on hand during press day on Friday, which aired live throughout Queensland with Garry Youngberry providing the weekend’s all-important weather forecast direct from the track.

Sunday was where we saw the benefits as a sizeable crowd rolled in and the vibe was incredible. A massive congratulations has to go out to WEM, Monster Energy and, of course, all the teams and privateers who make the series what it is. It seems everybody is stepping it up in 2012 and it’s awesome to see.

The sheer size of the pit is amazing, with not only the world class semis rolling in, but a host of first class satellite and private teams capitalizing on the current growth in the sport. If it keeps going the way it is, I have little doubt that we’ll begin to see more outside industry support get behind these teams on various levels.

New teams to the series are worth a mention in the MX Factory Honda team, Choice Motorsports KTM (which won the MXD class with Dylan Long), DPH Motorsport Honda, Full Force Racing, and the now separate Axis Motorsports Kawasaki and Team 07 Motorsport Suzuki teams. Hart and Huntington is also new to the series.

Tye Simmonds’ Red Bull/Honda/Simmonds Racing team and Jake Moss’ Campbell Mining/TLD/Maxima Honda team are probably the most low key of all new teams without transporters, but they do have the most credentialed riders of all that will contend for MX1 wins this year.

All of these teams (apologies if I missed any), along with the returning teams, are making for a series that we’re sure to enjoy. The fact that they are separated throughout multiple categories means that rider development is at its peak like never before.

At MotoOnline.com.au we’ve also managed to expand our coverage of the series online to suit, although after a solid year last year, I wasn’t really sure how he’d manage! It went smoothly though and thanks to the work from Guy Streeter from Out of Bounds Film Company and Simon Makker from Makkreative.com, it all went to plan (the fact that Conondale had internet helped, too!).

Between a Pre-Moto Show, the post-race Moto Show, First Look, Track Access and multiple Pit Pass galleries, I’m proud to be able to piece it together bit by bit with the team. Written features, results and news are all part of it as well, plus we continued to roll out some new audio uploads over the weekend with positive results.

Race day was a bit tricky as we were live on both Facebook and Twitter, which was lucky in some ways since the TAG living timing system had a few hiccups upon debut. Hopefully that’s sorted by round three (there’s no internet at the Coonabarabran complex) and we’ll have a really well-rounded package to deliver.

Riders who impressed over the weekend were no doubt Ben Townley and also his Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing teammates, Brad Anderson and Ford Dale. All three were lightning fast, and when BT does finally go to the U.S. with TwoTwo, Honda still stands a very real chance at winning both the MX1 and MX2 titles.

You also have to give it up to Todd Waters on debut with the Motul Pirelli Suzuki team, and his training partner Moss, who was ultra impressive as a privateer. Both were consistent and displayed good speed, indicating that their pre-season work has paid off.

Kirk Gibbs was also a great story on the weekend with reports indicating that he’s riding with a broken scaphoid bone in his wrist, so hopefully that doesn’t affect him as the season goes on. The Serco Yamaha Metal Mulisha Racing team is refined this year and I think both Gibbs and Luke Styke will step up to the plate all year long.

Riders that didn’t quite meet their potential, to name a few, included Lawson Boppins and Jay Marmont (although they were still well placed), Cody Cooper (he straight out admitted he was tired), Simmonds as he irons out kinks in his program, and Dan McCoy, who suffered from a series of tech difficulties on race day. Dan Reardon had so much promise coming into the weekend as JDR/KTM’s lone MX1 rider, but things just didn’t click at the opener for him either.

For many of these guys I think we will see them gain strength as the season settles in, because first round jitters with no real indication of who’s where does play a part. One thing I did notice though is that the international challenge was fierce, very near locking Australia out of an MX1 podium if Brad Anderson didn’t experience a mechanical in the final moto.

Townley was critical of the format with the opening two motos running longer than what was probably calculated, and there were rumours floating around this week that the formats may even return to a traditional 30-30 set-up. That won’t be the case from what I understand, and the plan may be to set the number of laps to be raced after qualifying so it amounts in two 15-minute motos, followed by a 30 (in MX1).

We already mentioned Gibbs’ injury, but Marmont was visibly carrying a knee injury and that wasn’t helped when Darryll King had an almighty collision with him after the chequers flew in moto one. It was a crazy scenario and one that I’m glad didn’t cause any serious injuries.

Ryan Marmont also suffered from a wrist injury all weekend and salvaged 12th, but I know that both he and Jay have refined their programs to fight off the effects of the injuries this week to come out swinging at Coonabarabran. Jay Wilson’s another who rode strong despite ongoing wrist dramas.

The big question now is whether or not we’ll see Townley at Goanna Tracks next weekend. The smart money says yes, but he said in our interview yesterday that it really does depend on his Visa status in getting to the U.S. with Chad Reed and co. I’m hearing an announcement could be made this week.

Speaking of America, remember to check back tomorrow for our ever-popular Matthes Report that’s sent over by Steve Matthes each and every Thursday. In speaking to Matthes earlier today, he’s in Florida and could have some cool stuff to share either this week or next!

As always, here’s a quick reminder for you guys to head over to our Facebook (www.facebook.com/motoonline) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/motoonline) for more from behind the scenes in the sport and the website. It’s been a fantastic start to the season.

To finish, here’s one more look at the exceptional Moto Show from Conondale’s opener on Sunday. Thank you for stopping by and making it all worthwhile!