Six months into 2013 and I thought for this edition of the MX Hub presented by Oakley – the last before we tick over into July – I’d take a look at some of my personal standouts of the year so far from both here in Australia and from around the globe.

It’s been an action-packed season so far and as I suspected, the year is absolutely flying as we do our best to cover domestic racing and our array of internationals doing battle in Europe or the US. For fans, there’s plenty to keep track of!

Most impressive: Todd Waters. Why? Because his switch back to KTM was absolutely seamless and despite a very serious crash prior to Broadford, he’s held his composure enough to maintain the MX1 MX Nationals series lead.

One to watch: Matt Moss. In his return to a 450, the multiple-time Lites champion is gaining momentum, but more importantly confidence at Motul Pirelli Suzuki. A stint in the US will have him primed for the series’ second half.

Likely to win a title: Luke Styke. After dominating the MX2 ranks so far with four wins from five starts, Styke is well on his way to the championship after coming oh so close in 2012. He’s relentless in his pursuit of this one!

Leading international: Dean Ferris. With MX2 GP podiums and a pole position to his credit, Ferris has shown he deserves to be at the top of the sport as he is with the Dixon-run Monster Energy Yamaha team. Impressive stuff!

Hard luck story: Chad Reed. After an injury-riddled last season, expectations were high for Chad in 2013, but for one reason or another things haven’t clicked. Supercross was decent with some podiums and fifth overall, but an early illness has rocked his outdoor campaign to date.

Head scratcher: Jay Marmont. No doubt 2012 was tough outdoors for the four-time MX Nationals champ, but this year has been a disaster. After he won the Supercross title to cap off last year we thought he’d be good to go in the nationals, but it wasn’t to be. Let’s hope he rebounds in the second half.

Top team: Serco Yamaha. The guys at Serco have been on it this year, winning all MX2 rounds of the MX Nationals between Luke Styke and impressive rookie teammate Luke Clout. Incredible performance all-round.

Impressive comeback: Brett Metcalfe. It may not be the American series he hoped for, but Metty has been making headlines in Canada and has so far been the top guy in what is a pretty tough national series. Fingers crossed it’s enough to pick up an AMA ride again for 2014 as he plans!

There are plenty more stories to share too of course, however they are just some of my standouts spotted so far. With the MX Nationals’ sixth round now just around the corner, here’s hoping it’s even more exciting and successful than the first half.

For now though, here’s Makker…

It’s just two-and-a-half weeks until the second half of the MX Nationals gets under way and I know I’m not alone when I say I’m more than ready to get back into the thick of the action.

I can see the merit to having a six-week break in the middle of the series as it allows riders time to recover, attend to some niggling injuries and allow a sense of normality to return to their lives before diving headfirst into the second stanza.

But as well as its merits, I can also see some downfalls. Momentum both for the racers and the championship is lost, we run the risk of losing the public’s interest in what has been an absolute cracker of a series so far, and teams can find themselves in a weird limbo where there’s not much point undertaking extensive testing with the 2014 machines arriving in a few short months.

Can you imagine if the AMA or World GPs had a six-week break in the middle of their championship? There’d be all sorts of criticism and complaints over it. In fact the only motorsport championship I can think of that has a similar lengthy mid-season break is the World Rally Championship.

Call me impatient, but personally I’d like to see the break shortened to three or four weeks; that would allow some time for riders to recuperate and refresh without becoming bored or lose their momentum, the championship would still remain near the front of the fans’ minds and we wouldn’t all be waiting around on tenterhooks for the series to resume again.

Over on the FMX scene the Australian FMX Championship has officially kicked into gear for 2013 with the qualifying round held at Boonah, Qld on Sunday. From there, the top five riders, including Luke McNeill and Callum Shaw, have qualified for the opening round of the series, the JetPilot Invitational, which will held on the Sunny Coast this weekend.

The line-up for the JPI Invitational is the biggest we’ve seen in years for a domestic competition: among the riders are Nitro Circus star Steve Mini, OG FMXer Matt Schubring, young Showtime FMX star Harry Bink, defending champion Joe Sheppard and a whole host of other up-and-coming riders.

It’s shaping up to be a ripper, so if you’re at a loose end on Saturday and are within driving distance of Chevallum on the Sunshine Coast, come along! It’s free to the public and the riding will be at a level rarely seen in Australia.

That’s all from me this week, here’s Spence!

As the mid-season break drags on we have a mixture of riders doing their thing during the time off, some sticking to their normal routine, some recovering from injury and some overseas mixing it up.

As Makker talked about, the six-week break is quite long and some competitors might find themselves losing that edge and searching for consistent race situations to stay on top of their game.

Some may be distracted and find themselves dropping the ball with their training schedule, we all know you have to be enjoying yourself, but accidentally taking the enjoyment too far is always a possibility.

But in saying that, from what I’ve seen and heard lately the top Monster Energy MX Nationals contenders have been hard at work during the break fine-tuning their skills and craft. Luke Styke is currently in Europe with Dean Ferris scoping out future GP deals and surely gaining even more motivation to return home and achieve the goals he has set for himself right now domestically.

Josh Cachia looks to have his nagging wrist injury under control and after spending time at his home in Carpenters Rocks, you can expect the Carlton Dry Honda rider to come out swinging at Appin.

We’ve seen countless shots from Kale Makeham via Instagram (@kalemakeham96) pounding out motos aboard his two-stroke as he prepares to continue his strong rookie MX2 season.

Serco Yamaha’s Luke Clout has spent time at Tye Simmonds’ compound in Bourke and is currently up in Queensland with GYTR Yamaha’s Jay Wilson for the remainder of the break. Both Clout and Wilson made their way out to the Coolum Pines Motocross Track today for some mid-week motos. You can also bet your bottom dollar that Wilson will be picking up tips from the MX2 rookie along the way.

Kade Mosig has made a fast recovery and took out the Swan Hill MX2 Victorian state title round on return. He feels refreshed and ready to put his Kawasaki up on the box over the remaining five rounds.

Dylan Long has also been at his house down in Victoria laying down laps aboard his privateer KTM. Long feels he has a lot to prove in his rookie MX2 season and I would keep my eyes on him during the final five rounds.

MX1 series leader Todd Waters will be fully recovered from his nasty crash. Speaking with the Motorex KTM rider this week he was keeping things fun while training with his rookie MX1 teammate Kirk Gibbs.

Matt and Jake Moss are both in Southern California doing work on the plethora of great outdoor tracks available in the area and working alongside AlterEgoElite’s Dan Reardon.

CDR Yamaha’s Billy Mackenzie took a trip to Italy as a fill-in rider for Monster Energy Yamaha in the FIM Motocross World Championship keeping himself in race mode.

Conondale winner Cody Cooper has been spending time in New Zealand returning to his usual training routine. The Motul Pirelli Suzuki rider took the round five win with a slightly out-of-whack routine – the Kiwi could be even more dangerous come round six.

With plenty of the MX Nationals guns putting in the hard yards during the break, we’ll definitely be in for a strong and exciting finish to the season. Each class is shaping up to crown a first-time champion and the list of title contenders is deep in all three divisions – bring it on.

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.