Something special is taking place in Australian Motocross right now – the best of our domestic rising stars are setting their sights on Europe and the grand prix series, with that series also directly taking a strong interest in our local talent as well.

There are a number of reasons contributing to this, especially the early season form of Dean Ferris in the MX2 World Championship. In addition, with the likes of proven GP contenders competing in the Monster Energy MX Nationals during the past few years such as retired MX1 champion Josh Coppins and Scotsman Billy Mackenzie, Australia is well and truly on the map.

It’s been a long time since the likes of Chad Reed, Andrew McFarlane and Brett Metcalfe honed their skills in Europe before embarking on successful careers in the US. Kiwi Ben Townley also did the same, effectively proving that a stopover in Europe is the best way of preparing to race in the AMA.

Since then we’ve witnessed a number of Aussies including Craig Anderson, Jay Marmont, Dan Reardon, the Moss brothers, Dan McCoy, and more, transfer directly to America from Australia. They all had reasonable amounts of success, but it’s clear that Reed and Metcalfe especially benefited from their Euro backgrounds. It’s also important to note that Michael Byrne went direct to America.

Now, Todd Waters seems to be the next major player of Australian racing intending to head to Europe as soon as he possibly can. He’s scheduled to do some GPs this year as part of his KTM contract and already has had teams extend their interest in him after a decent Motocross of Nations debut in 2012. Luke Styke is another who is keen to go to the world championships.

All of a sudden, Europe has become the go-to place for these young Aussies who, for the most part, specialise in the outdoors since the MX Nationals span 10 rounds comered to the four in Supercross. We are seeing trends change and our top factory rides are heavily decided on who can ride outdoors – just ask Daniel McCoy that! In a lot of ways, it’s the opposite to the US.

MotoOnline.com.au has an active partnership with our friends at MXlarge, which is Europe’s leading GP site, so it’s nice to see some of our interviews with the Aussies shared over there and basically being broadcast to the top world championship teams. In addition, this week we also saw a story published using our info from Waters on the official MXGP website.

As the careers of Reed, Metcalfe and co. begin to wind down over the coming years, keep an eye on our next wave of international stars. With Ferris paving the way as we speak, Australia’s future on the world stage looks as strong as ever before. And remember, Meg Rutledge and Jess Moore are also serious threats in WMX already.

And in saying all that, those ever-consistent rumours of Australia hosting a grand prix again continue to surge and gain momentum. More on that in the coming weeks!

Here’s Makker…

Did you know X Games Brazil was on over the weekend? Oh you didn’t? It’s not surprising really, as the amount of media attention and exposure out of the event was minimal compared to what we experience during the Summer X Games from years gone by. Even the social media world seemed fairly indifferent to what was the first of three Summer X Games events this year.

It’s a shame there was no or little attention given to it as Aussie athletes picked up five medals across the range of competitions: BMXer Kyle Baldock won gold in both BMX Park and BMX Dirt, Vert BMXer Steve McCann and Big Air skater Jake Brown both claimed bronze, and Victorian FMXer Rob Adelberg scored a career-best finish with a silver medal in Moto X Freestyle.

Adelberg has always been knocking on the door of a podium result in international competition, and to finally score himself some hardware has the fella grinning from ear-to-ear. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke too – Adelboggie is one of the most relaxed, likeable cats in FMX and is always happy for a chat.

An Aussie who’s probably not quite so pumped on life right now is two-time X Games Best Trick champ Jacko Strong, who crashed out of the contest. After perfectly nailing a front-flip on his first jump of the finals, Jacko under-rotated a Cliffhanger Flip and was pile-driven into the ground. He later tweeted he had broken a bone in his ankle and was pretty beat up, but was otherwise all good.

Back home and on the racing front I’ve heard a couple of sneaky rumours getting thrown around about the 2014 MX Nationals. Will the MXD class become limited to Under 18 years instead of Under 19? Will two-strokes be canned from MXD? Obviously it’s far, far too early for these to be answered with any certainty, but it’s interesting to hear some of the rumblings going on.

Anyway, over to you Adam!

While the 2013 Monster Energy MX Nationals took a weekend off before heading into Murray Bridge’s round two, our top competitors sure didn’t let that weekend go to waste. A majority of them hit the track at local events to keep their race craft in check.

Round three of the Queensland Shell Advance Series got underway at Hervey Bay and a selection of Australia’s best decided to show up and battle it out in the sand. Riders such as Todd Waters, Kirk Gibbs, Billy Mackenzie, Jake Moss, Joel Dinsdale, Jacob Wright and Brock Winston all lined up for the event.

But it was Motorex KTM’s Todd Waters who stood out the most at the event, aside from his usual blistering pace, the Queenslander was contesting the Pro Lites class aboard a KTM 250 SX two-stroke! His teammate Gibbs was also mounted on a premix machine in that same class.

Obviously Waters entered the Pro Open class aboard his KTM 450SX-F and won the overall with a 1-2 moto score. CDR Yamaha’s Billy Mackenzie stole the moto two win from Waters on the day with Moss rounding out the top three. But Waters taking home the win certainly isn’t much of a surprise, the guy is on fire – so lets get back to the two-stroke subject.

Speaking with Waters this afternoon he said that being contracted as a 450 rider, he would be riding a stock 250 four-stroke if he chose to contend the Pro Lites class on that bike. So the obvious choice for him was to ride the 250 two-stroke. It has more power in stock form, it’s easy to maintain and it also serves as fun and different experience for him – a change is as good as a holiday, right?

Waters unfortunately suffered carburetor issues (remember those?) in moto one and was forced to pull out of the race. But the current Monster Energy MX Nationals MX1 series leader returned for moto two without water in his carby and took the win. Waters also posted a cool holeshot photo from the event via Instagram (@toddwaters47), be sure to check that out.

Moss went on to win the Pro Lites class, with the two-stroke mounted Gibbs in second with fellow two-stroke rider Winston rounding out the top three. That’s a lot of two-stroke’s finding their way to the top of the field and I think it’s exciting.

Also taking place over the weekend was the Wonthaggi round of the 2013 Shell Advance Gippsland Motocross Championships in Victoria. That race saw another star-studded line-up of riders keeping their skills sharp during the off weekend.

Troy Lee Designs – Maxima Zero Seven Motorsports’s Kade Mosig, Carlton Dry Honda Racing’s Ford Dale and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Monea were all there getting amongst the action. Mosig swept all three of the short format motos in the MX2 class, but he was followed by hot competition in current Monster Energy MX Nationals MXD series leader Jack Simpson, ‘retired’ former national champion Cameron Taylor and Raceline Pirelli Suzuki’s Geran Stapleton.

Simpson and Taylor were both two-stroke mounted and both battled up front – just another story for the premix fans out there to get excited about. The two-stroke lovers must be absolutely pumped right now, they’re leading the MXD series with Jack Simpson, running third in the MX2 class with Kale Makeham and factory riders such as Waters and Gibbs dragging them back out and taking home wins.

In the MX1 class it was Dale, Mosig and Monea who led the charge, with Monea coming out on top with the overall as both Mosig and Dale did not finish all three motos on the day. Mosig, who says he enjoys the 450 and is hoping to move into the premier class next year, managed to steal the moto one win away from Dale and Monea – impressive.

Mosig obviously feels comfortable aboard the 450 and he will definitely be an interesting addition to the premier class. We all know he has great raw speed and tons of attitude out on the track. It’s crazy, we’re barely kicking off our 2013 season and I’m already seeing exciting things start to develop for next year.

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