Throwdown No.149

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.

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We head to Washougal this weekend, for Round 8 of the 2013 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, and we’re expecting it to be a good one. Why? Because Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey scored himself a DNF at RedBud two weeks ago, and will be looking to gain back any points that he can on Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto. Team Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Barcia sits about 50 points away from the Ryans, and his teammate, Trey Canard, sits a further 50 points back from that. In the 250 class, there’s a battle brewing between Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen and GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac – find out more about their rivalry in this week’s USA Insider.

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Have you mentioned the name Chad Reed in conversation this week? If you have, chances are that someone’s responded to you with a question regarding the rumours that he’ll be on board a Yamaha for season 2014, and not his 2013 AMA Motocross campaign. And Reedy’s hearing the stories, too. He posted the shot below to his Instagram feed earlier in the week, with the caption including “Thought I’d post the yellow ones also, didn’t wanna fuel the rumours.” What are your thoughts? Have a read of what we know and what we’ve heard, and decide.

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Hallelujah. The 2013 Monster Energy MX Nationals mid-season break is over, and we’re straight back into the swing of things. Motorex KTM Racing’s Todd Waters entered the weekend’s round with 25 points over Motul Pirelli Suzuki’s Matt Moss, but now holds the red plate by a mere four, as he was forced to ride with a broken collarbone sustained a couple of weeks ago. Mossy stormed away with the Overall win at Appin, followed by his teammate Cody Cooper, and Waters’ teammate Kirk Gibbs. CDR Yamaha’s Billy Mackenzie finished in sixth at Appin, but remains third Overall in the championship standings. For more interesting insights into what went down at Appin over the weekend, check out his article, which highlights the topics that dominated conversation in the Transmoto truck on the way home.

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While the MX1 racing is heating up, the MX2 racing is, well, almost boring. Serco Yamaha’s Luke Styke now holds an enormous 83-point lead over two-stoke KTM-mounted Kale Makeham, who actually managed to steal a very impressive moto win away from Styke at the start of the day – the first time that a two-banger has ever won a moto in the class. Styke’s teammate, Luke Clout, was in second Overall, but won’t race anymore rounds of the 2013 season as his left femur is obliterated. The next man in line was Carlton Dry Honda Racing’s Josh Cachia, but he’ll also sit out the remainder of this year’s season, as he had surgery on an ongoing wrist injury at the start of the week. If you care to place a bet against Styke winning this year’s title, do so now as the odds are high.

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WEM’s Kevin Williams claims that he could have a big surprise in store for the MX Nationals’ series finale in Coolum. What’s that mean? A high-profile foreign rider, we assume. Stay tuned.

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When a Pro rider is injured and a highly sought-after race team seat is up for mid-season grabs, it’s a feeding frenzy out there. After Serco Yamaha’s 18-year-old sensation Luke Clout busted his femur last week, Serco’s Michael Marty and Gavin Eales have been inundated with rider requests and rationale about who his right and proper replacement ought to be on the Serco YZ250F. But, according to Eales, “We’re not interested in replacing Clout for the final four rounds of the MX Nats. Having a fill-in rider running around on 10th or 15th is just not the sort of exposure we want. Instead, the team is going to focus its energies on Luke Styke and winning the MX2 championship.” But what about the upcoming Australian SX Championship? “We’ll definitely be taking on a fill-in for Clout for the ASX,” Eales confirmed. “I can’t say who at this stage, but I’d suspect it’ll be an imported international.” Which makes us wonder … is Serco planning to bring Kyle Cunningham back to Oz? Cos he’d sure be a title contender!

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Having parted company with Carlton Dry Honda Racing a few weeks back amid claims of delayed payments, Daniel McCoy’s social page posts would suggest he’s now balls-deep in SX-track building. DMC was only spectating at the Appin round of the MX Nats last weekend (his local track, where he usually excels), which has prompted questions about his immediate future, and whether or not the CDR Yamaha deal is still on the table for him for the upcoming Australian Supercross Championships (ASX). Well, CDR’s Craig Dack confirmed with Transmoto that McCoy will definitely not be riding a CDR Yamaha again for this year’s ASX. It appears that DMC will actually be racing a TM at Queensland’s Sunshine State series this weekend. Today, we caught wind of yet another rumour involving DMC … this one, that Motorex KTM Racing has taken McCoy on for the ASX series to replace Todd Waters. Apparently, Waters is planing to flag the ASX series in favour of heading to Europe to race a few rounds of the FIM Motocross World Championship .. which is where he intends to race full-time next year. We’ll bring you more on all this DMC talk next week, anyway.

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On the other side of the globe, Australia’s Dean Ferris impressed many at the GP of Finland over the weekend, going 3-3 to secure second Overall in the MX2 class – the third podium finish of the year for the Monster Energy Yamaha rider. Of course, it was Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings who took first, and it was his teammate Antonio Cairoli who claimed the Overall win in the MX1 class. The next round of the 2013 FIM Motocross World Championship is set to take place in Germany, July 28.

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The fifth round of the 2013 East Coast MX series, presented by Transmoto Dirt Bike Magazine, is going down this weekend in Nowra, NSW. The third and fourth rounds of the seven-round series were basically destroyed by rain – well, for Seniors anyway. Fingers crossed we can break the habit this weekend. Our highlights video from Round 4 at Wollongong actually went live this week, too, thanks to JCMX Films’ Josh Cassidy – be sure to check it out.

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KTM has just announced that they’ll be staging an international launch for its 2014 Freeride models (yes, more than one model) in Italy; at the resort where the Hell’s Gate extreme enduro is held on an annual basis. If our sources are right, we can expect to see a refined 350 Freeride and an all-new 250cc two-stroke version of the hybrid machine. Aussie KTM dealers recently visited the Austrian factory for the annual dealer conference, and laid eyes on the 2014 Freeride models; and from what we’re hearing, the Freerides will come with a host of upgrades for 2014. With the pipe tucked up high (trials-bike style,) the two-stroke Freeride is said to come with better ground clearance and weigh in at just 90kg. Sources also say that the new models’ hoops are based on trials tyres, but come with wider blocks and a stiffer compound to elongate the wear that many believed was an issue with the inaugural Freeride this year.

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This year’s Dakar Rally was a clear sign that Honda is content to simply wade back into the world rally scene; they plan to take KTM on. In preparation for the 2014 Dakar, the HRC Honda Rally team has enlarged its rider line-up to five, and employed the former king-pin of Husqvarna’s off-road racing efforts, Martino Bianchi, as their team manager. Word on the street is that Honda is throwing astronomical sums at the red rally team effort, and that they’re intent to make an affordable, Dakar-spec Honda 450 available to privateers for the 2015 Dakar. Sadly, one of their five riders is not Todd or Jake Smith – two Aussies who repeatedly proved they can beat blokes who are on the HRC team. Go figure.

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There is also talk that Honda will revitalise its off-road model line-up for 2015, which would come as a welcome relief for Honda fans, given that the last real upgrades the CRF450X received was waaaaaay back in 2008.

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As we’ve mentioned a few times of late, Craig Dack is really enjoying his venture into the off-road scene. But Australia’s most successful MX/SX race team manager has also said that the off-road pasture has perhaps been a little too good for him. “Mate, when the riders disappear on long loops, all I seem to do is sit back and eat to kill the time. And I’m feeling it,” Dack explained, while rubbing what he claims is an expanding girth. To keep himself busy at the A4DE in WA this week, Dack has been busying himself with feeding Transmoto images from the event (rather than feeding himself). For timely updates about the 4-Day, check out Transmoto‘s Instagram and Facebook feeds.

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The 2013 edition of the A4DE will come to an end on Saturday afternoon, so for updates, be sure to head to the official Facebook page and you’ll be able to find everything you need to know there, almost instantly. You know the way it works!

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HSE Motorex KTM Off Road Racing’s Ben Grabham established himself as one of the first people on the planet to win a race on the brand new 2014 KTM 500EXC over the weekend. The venue was the Indee 500, the second round of the all-new WA Desert Tri-Series at Indee Station near Port Hedland. Grabbo picked up the new bike right before the event kicked off, and for the second-straight round he went on to dominate proceedings, topping the time sheets at the Friday Prologue, before winning both Saturday’s and Sunday’s stages. The exciting three-round series will conclude early next month, with the third round set to take place at Kumarina Station, Newman, WA on August 9-11.

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The penultimate stop on the 2013 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour calendar is set to take place this weekend in Madrid, Spain. France’s Tom Pages currently leads the series, with Australia’s Rob Adelberg sitting in second, while Spain’s Dany Torres sits in third. Stay tuned to out Instagram feed @transmoto over the weekend as we keep you updated with what’s going on. Long-time Transmoto videographer, Russell Brothers Films’ Lachlan Russell is actually there, as he has been paid to accompany Adelberg over the weekend, to generate a video on Rob’s life and what he goes through leading up to major events on the calendar. While Lachy’s out and about, he plans on heading over to Los Angeles to catch the X Games the following weekend, so we’ll have some insta-goodies from there for you, too.

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Speaking of X Games LA coming up, did you hear that Moto X Racing is set to make a comeback in 2013?! Yep, it’s a simplified version, running inside the small Staples Centre (which will make it more like an arenacross than a supercross event) and the big names aren’t really being mentioned. Expect JGR Yamaha’s Josh Grant and Justin Brayton (who went 1-2 at the event in 2011) to be there, as well as Josh Hansen. You can grab more details on the scenario in this week’s USA Insider.

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Stay tuned next week for an interview with Australia’s Jackson Strong, who we caught up with at the Appin round of the MX Nationals over the weekend, ahead of his trip to Los Angeles for what will be the final ever round of the X Games in the event’s spiritual home city. It was revealed overnight that the X Games will move to Austin, Texas for the next four years, as one of the six stops on the now-international calendar. Fingers crossed that Australia will one day be included.

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Who’s giving away a 2014 KTM 350EXC-F? That would be Transmoto Dirt Bike Magazine. Click here and find out how you could easily become the lucky winner.

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During the second edition of the MXGP Festival, which will take place in Matterley Basin on August 22-25, Privateers will have the opportunity to participate in a challenge giving them the chance to take part in the 2014 MXGP (current MX1 class) season, without having to pay the participation fee! On Saturday, August 24, two practice sessions will be organized at the British track and riders who obtain a lap time within the 110% of the average of the top ten MX1 lap times in the pre-qualifying session will have the possibility to enter one or more events. The riders who accept the challenge will take part in one free practice and one timed practice using a 450cc four-stroke bike under the same track conditions as the MX1 class.

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Earlier in the month, we released details on Kawasaki’s all-new KX85 models, which will be available in late August. Last year, the Big Wheel version, which features 19″ front and 16″ rear wheels was priced at $6499, and for 2014 will be priced at $6699. The Small Wheel version, which is equipped with 17″ front and 14″ rear wheels, was priced at $5999, and for 2014 will be priced at $6199. KTM’s 2014 85SX models are both priced at $6999.

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Interested in owning a BMW F 800 GS Adventure? The machines are now available at BMW Motorrad Dealers in Australia at an impressive price of $18,550.

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Steve Cramer Products is now the exclusive distributor for USWE Sports Sweden in Australia. USWE is a young and dynamic company based in Sweden, specializing in the development and manufacturing of high-quality personal hydration products, for performance-minded sports people.

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You’re all probably still frothing over the ground-breaking all-new product that is the Oakley AIRBRAKE MX Goggle, right? Optics Category Manager for Oakley Australia, Marcus Floyd, runs us through the ins and outs of the piece of technology.

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Sit back, and enjoy this slow-motion beauty from the 2013 Red Bull Romaniacs event…

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