[News]

Throwdown No.89 – New bikes, injuries and MX season

12 years ago

What’s this “Throwdown”? It’s a digital home for rumour, fact and innuendo, delivered on a weekly basis. Covering a broad spectrum of the off-road world’s news, the Throwdown will touch on everything from racing to trailriding; from industry tidbits to issues facing the sport. It’s about delivering you timely information all in one place so you don’t have to scour the internet looking for it.


MX/SX

Round 1 of the AMA Motocross will take place at Hangtown this weekend and the motocross community is buzzing with talk of James Stewart on the Suzuki. Questions are flying around like, will we see the old Bubba back? Or, will he flake out like he did in the Supercross season? We won’t truly know until the riders line up at Hangtown this Sunday. But Bubba isn’t the only one on the radar, with Ryan Dungey’s fuel-injected KTM Factory Edition untested under professional motocross conditions there’s a heated discussion about who’s more likely to win the championship: Dungey or Stewart. USA Insider’s Jason Weigandt has more.

Did you see our exclusive video from the deep sands of Wanneroo for Round 4 of the MX Nationals? Russell Brother Films, Lachlan Russell, made the epic journey from east to west to film in the red sand of Western Australia and capture the brutal showdown that followed.

There’s no rest for the wicked! The MX Nationals heads straight from WA to South Australia this weekend for Round 5 at Murray Bridge – marking the season’s halfway point. MX1 series leader, Josh Coppins, will be looking to extend his 42-point lead over rival, Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing’s Brad Anderson. While it’s an eight-point struggle for second between Anderson, Suzuki’s Todd Waters and CDR Yamaha’s Lawson Bopping. In the MX2 class, Ford Dale and Kirk Gibbs have a 39 and 61-point gap separating them from series leader, Luke Styke.

It was a disappointing round for Campbell Mining TLD Maxima Honda’s Jake Moss at Wanneroo after stalling it twice during the first moto, got bike damage after being rammed during Moto 2 and had a puncture in the final 30-minute race. The privateer started off the season with a lot of promise after finishing fourth and third at Round 1 and 2, but has faltered since. The team has spent the week attempting to re-motivate Moss coming into this weekend’s round where he hopes to remedy his poor performance.

The Manjimup 15,000 motocross event will once again take place on the WA Queen’s Birthday long weekend – June 2-3. Three-time winner, Jay Marmont, was expected to defend his title and attempt a fourth-straight win, but with his aggravated knee injury, that prospect is out the window. Marmont’s Team Manager, Troy Carroll, said, “Jay’s been battling his knee issue since the start of the year but he re-injured it on Thursday before Wanneroo. He’ll race this weekend and then spend two or three weeks off the bike recovering.” With six weeks between Round 5 and 6, Marmont should have plenty of time to get back into form. But the real question is: is it too late in the game to recover from his 76-point deficit?

Enduro

The 2013 KTM 125SX-F

Details of the 2013 KTM range have been released this week from KTM USA. Get a load of the shots and some details about the new models. With the Italian-based international launch currently in progress and Transmoto’s Ollie Sharp on location, we’ll have more info early next week.

We caught up with 15-time Dakar veteran, Manager of four-time Dakar winner Cyril Despres and ASO representative (Dakar organisers), Chris Evans, this week. He tells us Despres is planning to race to Erzberg Rodeo on KTM’s all-new Freeride electric motorcycle. It’s lighter and more agile than a conventional machine, so it’ll be an interesting international debut. Read the full interview with Evans.

We had an Italian-based Transmoto.com.au reader ask whether the 2012 Yamaha WR450F maps we published online last month were accurate, given that the Wood and Hard Pack maps are exactly the same. Since we got the maps directly from Yamaha Australia and didn’t know the answer ourselves, we thought we’d better get clarification from Yamaha’s Darren Thompson. “Most of the maps can be used universally by both enduro- or motocross-based riders,” said Thompson. “That’s what makes the power tuner so special. We can recommend and publish a map that points the consumer in the right direction and they can then tailor make the map to be as individual as they like. For example, when making the Hardpack/Wood map there was an MX rider and two enduro riders testing the same map and giving feedback. We used their observations to describe the nature and usefulness of the maps. We found a map’s usefulness came down to what and where your background in motorcycling came from. It just so happened this map was found to be useful by all our test riders but in different terrain – like in the woods and on hard pack.”

Australia’s Jess Gardiner and Jemma Wilson have redeemed themselves after their unfortunate debut in the EWC championship last week. The two riders competed in the Portugal round over the weekend where Gardiner finished eighth and fourth over the two-day event, missing out on a podium finish by just four seconds on Sunday. Gardiner says, “It was definitely that crash on a log in the extreme test that cost me third place but I’m still stoked!” Whereas Wilson finished sixth on Day 1 and fifth on Day 2. We’ll have more on the girl’s adventures in a few weeks when Wilson pens her first blog for Transmoto.

The Central West Dirt Bike Rally will take place on June 9-10 in Wellington, NSW. The event features pristine trails, a motocross track, Peewee track and short kids trail that’ll appeal to both young and old. The uniqueness of the event is that you don’t need a registered motorcycle or bike license to participate as it’s held entirely on private property. Free camping is available, as well as toilets, hot showers, food and drinks. Entries can be made through the club’s website: Centralwestdirtbikerally.com


Toby Price looking focused.

With the Australian Off-Road Championship heading to Broadford, Vic, for the first time for Round 7 and 8, we thought we’d link to a quick mid-season pictorial thanks to 404 Shots’ Ken Roche and Amanda Kirkpatrick. He’s been busily snapping behind his camera at every round and has produced some outstanding photography that captures the essence of the series.

FMX

The 20m step-up.

For the first time in history, the Red Bull X-Fighters took to the Glen Helen Raceway for Round 2 of the six-round series. Unfortunately New Zealand’s Levi Sherwood couldn’t top his stellar first-round performance and finished seventh on the challenging Californian track. The winner, USA’s Todd Potter, eventually claimed victory after pulling a backflip in the finals on a 20m high natural terrain step up – falling short of the landing meant you’d be tumbling straight back down the steep hill!

Industry

TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed announced his family has a new addition on the way, with his wife, Ellie, once again pregnant. Reed has said on Twitter: Baby TwoTwo #2 is coming soon! Congratulations to the Reed family.

You could win private lessons with one of the top riders from JDR KTM Racing at the Appin Motocross Track. Head over to the Insure My Ride entry page to find out more: http://insuremyridepromotions.com.au/

Up for sale is Australian Dakar legend Andy Coldecott’s 2006 KTM Factory 700 – one of the last true Factory 700s – which he was riding in the 2006 Dakar where he tragically lost his life. Appealing to collectors, the Caldecott family is open to offers of $50,000 or more – considerably less than how much Coma’s Factory 450 went for. For enquires, contact Rosco Holden via email: rholden66@bigpond.com.

President of Motorcycling Tasmania (MT), Peter Kitto, has sadly past away. Over the years, Kitto has been an intrinsic member of Motorcycling Australia (MA), having been a member of the MA National Council since 2005, a member of the MA Motocross Commission and MT President since 2004.

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