Sometimes in motocross, news breaks that rocks the sport. Today, the news that JDR Motorsports will be closing its doors on its US operation at the close of the current Monster Energy Supercross season was especially unexpected.

Just last week Adam Spence and I had been in at JDR in Murrieta, California, and it was all business as usual (as you’d expect since they’re still racing through to the Vegas finals in May). However, Racer X broke the news today and then JDR later confirmed it to be true – unless the Aussie-owned team finds additional backing.

Even more interesting was the fact that it was actually PJ Larsen who broke the news to me, as surprised as anyone of the sudden news, while we were out at Milestone today working on some content with Race SoCal and the Rocket Exhausts team that Larsen now rides for.

Remember, Larsen won both the Australian motocross and supercross titles for JDR in 2010 before returning home to America with the team for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Unfortunately for him he was injured for much of both seasons, but it was just interesting to have him be the one to share to story at that point, at that time.

What we need to realise in all of this is that it’s a massive blow to the sport in Australia. Since JDR launched its American program we’d seen Larsen, Tye Simmonds, Ryan Marmont, Matt Moss and now Josh Cachia all gain opportunities in the path from the Aussie team to the AMA squad. Now, both teams are facing extinction as the Australian team had already folded at the close of 2012.

You have to appreciate the Rynenberg’s commitment to the sport since joining as team owners in 2008, with many ups and some very sad downs along the way. In a lot of ways they have elevated presentation, but it is tough times economically and the challenge to source major backing in this sport was possibly a little larger than even they expected. Who knows…

Personally, I just hope that we see the likes of Cachia find a seat for the future, as well as Ryan Marmont and of course Brenden Harrison, because they all deserve a chance at battling for championships in 2013 whether it’s in Australia or abroad.

If you like to get behind your Australian teams or riders over here, keep an eye out for the newly-formed ADR Motorsports team that’s fielding a Kawasaki 250SX program this year. It’s owned by Victorian David Anthony and is the team that Kade Mosig is currently riding for, so check them out on Facebook.

It’s a new team, but it has a pretty impressive infrastructure already and we plan to develop some content with ‘Aussie Dave’ over the next couple of weeks so you can learn more. He has a superbike background as a rider and team owner, but this year he decided to go supercross racing instead and has some good potential.

Back on the home front, the all-new Australian KTM team of Todd Waters and Kirk Gibbs headed to New Zealand today for the Woodville GP that will be held this weekend. Ben Townley will be there as well, so it’s basically the first time that we’ll see Waters on the KTM in race mode and the fact that it’s up against BT will give us the first real insight toward the MX Nationals season in 2013.

Speaking of insights, we’re yet to hear anything from Suzuki Australia about the Motul Pirelli Suzuki team, but the good news is that it looks as though they’re near the final stages of planning their team. Jay Foreman has actually been in the US lately, but expect an announcement in the coming weeks – hopefully with Matt Moss included!

There was a Stadiumcross in Coffs Harbour on the weekend and Jake Moss was the winner in Opens, while Serco Yamaha’s new recruit Luke Clout won the Lites in what will be a nice confidence builder for the pair of them. As we are well aware, confidence is everything in this sport. That’s all from me for today, over to Makker…

While the Australian motocross season is practically in hibernation, I’ve been keeping myself more than occupied helping the Frew brothers organise the NZ Farm Jam this year.

Rider interest has been insane with a capital C for crazy. So far we’ve had about 20 Aussies, including Matt Schubring, Tyrone Gilks, Matt McFerran and host of others, hit me up to be part of the FMX contest, while the BMX has attracted X-Games gold medallist Corey Bohan, and Spanish freerider Andreu Lacondeguy has put his hands up to ride both MTB and FMX!

We’re building in a whole new freeriding comp into the FMX event this year. Red Bull have thrown us the funds to shape up some crazy dirt hits around the Frew’s 2600-acre sheep farm and hold a comp open to just the riders and media (ala the legendary Red Bull Ride To The Hills contest in the US a few years back) before the actual Farm Jam day.

Back on this side of the Ditch I interviewed six racers for their New Year’s resolutions last week and it threw up some interesting nuggets of information. The most notable is that it sounds like Matt Moss is yet to sign a deal with Motul Pirelli Suzuki race team, even though everyone thought it was a done deal. We’re not sure what the hold-up is, but I’d hazard a guess the stall could be related to salary. Hopefully we’ll know more in the coming weeks.

Another surprise is the lack of team interest in 2011 U19 champion Errol Willis. In 2012 Willis decided stepped up into the MX2 class a year early, and (as always) it took him the best part of a year to find his feet.

However, he ended 2012 with a podium performance at the Newcastle supercross. Instead of the phones ringing as expected, there’s been nothing but crickets for the young bloke. Fingers crossed something comes up for Errol, as it’d be a real shame to see a promising talent like this slip away from the sport. Here’s Spence…

First up, while sitting in the press box at the Anaheim 2 round of the Monster Energy Supercross series on Saturday night, the shocking announcement was made by GEICO Honda’s Kevin Windham that he would be officially retiring from the sport.

Being a huge K-Dub fan myself, and I can imagine many of you are also, I took the liberty of providing our viewers with this Wednesday Wallpaper featuring the man himself. Be sure to click here, download the wallpaper and throw it up on your screen!

Since the previous edition of MX Hub, Gobert and myself have had an action-packed week here in sunny Southern California, making the most of the endless amounts of motorcycle action and attractions surrounding us.

Yesterday we traveled out to Pala Raceway’s supercross track to film with Dan McCoy as he laid down some mid-week motos aboard his privateer ‘white knight’ colour-schemed Yamaha YZ450F. While talking to McCoy, he mentioned that he will definitely be looking to land a ride for the 2013 Australian Monster Energy MX Nationals series, which kicks off in April.

The motivated veteran said if he is unable to find a ride, he will be looking to put together a privateer Yamaha effort, hopefully with some support from Craig Dack at CDR Yamaha. McCoy is already linked to a 2013 supercross deal with CDR, so the opportunity to continue riding similar equipment throughout the year will also prove very valuable.

Be sure to stay tuned to MotoOnline for the McCoy film, which includes a detailed interview, to be dropping later on this week.

Speaking of Aussie’s touring the Monster Energy Supercross circuit here in the US, Kade Mosig has been putting in the work over here at the local tracks, which showed at Anaheim II on Saturday where he was just one spot away from qualifying for the 250SX main event.

Big news for Mosig in 2013 is his deal with Zero Seven Motorsports back in Australia, where he will contest the 2013 Monster Energy MX Nationals series in the MX2 class once again. Mosig is always a top contender for the title, and it is great news to hear he will back on track after his former Monster Energy Kawasaki team announced they would be terminating their MX2 program (Mosig will still carry Kawasaki support over at Zero Seven).

We will be catching up with Mosig tomorrow morning at Milestone while he lays down motos aboard his ADR Motorsports Kawasaki. Obviously I will be there, camera in hand, ready to put together another film for your viewing pleasure – stay tuned for that.

Switching gears from the US scene to our sport domestically, the Carlton Dry Honda Racing team announced this week that they will be switching over to Shift riding gear after spending many years in Thor outfits.

In addition to the Shift gear, team riders will also use Fox helmets to finish off the all-new look. Interestingly, the team owned by Yarrive Konksy, kicked off their campaign in 2003 wearing Shift gear – 10 years on and they returning to their roots.

Although in 2013 Shift’s look is now completely revamped, they are certainly making their mark within the industry all over again. With the vision of Konksy and the progression of the Shift brand, I think this combination will be a winning one for sure.

Finally, if you follow us on Instagram (if not, search motoonline), you will notice we have launched a new daily post, which is based around a series of hash tags, some old, some new – #whipitwednesday will be our image for today, be sure to check that out!

Also remember to check out all of MotoOnline.com.au’s social networking channels and be sure to Like/Follow us for even more behind the scenes insights. We will be further increasing our focus on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the season ahead. Just search MotoOnline.