Throwdown No.230 – 20/03/15

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Roger De Coster must be that stoked right now, as his Red Bull KTM soldiers are absolutely dominating the AMA Supercross series. Ryan Dungey just scored his third consecutive 450SX Class win (this is the first time in his Pro career that he’s ever won three races in a row) and Marvin Musquin just secured his third consecutive 250SX Eastern Regional win. We’ll be pretty surprised if the boys don’t secure a fourth consecutive win this weekend in Detroit.

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Holland’s national MX championship kicked over the weekend, and while Ryan Villopoto was in town, he wasn’t racing against riders such as Jeremy van Horebeek. We’re sure that RV’s contract clearly states that he only has to race the FIM Motocross World Championship and, let’s be honest, no one on this planet wants Villopoto to get damaged in anyway outside of the GPs, so we’re perfectly content to only see him line-up alongside the best in world, not the best in Holland. Read more in this week’s MXGP Insider column.

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As we’ve been saying in recent weeks, the 2015 Australian Supercross Championship (ASX) calendar was expected to come in for a change sooner rather than later – largely because its still had the second and third rounds set down for Phillip Island’s Moto GP in October, when it’s already been confirmed that the Lukey Heights SX track will be converted into a dirt track for the Troy Bayliss Invitational. This week, a restructured six-round ASX calendar was released – with no Phillip Island round, and with MA coordinating the five promoters involved for the series that runs between October 10 and December 5. The other big news revealed this week is that AllPhones Arena in Sydney is set to host the inaugural Australian Open of Supercross (the “AUS-X Open”) on November 28, which will double as a points-paying round of the ASX. Stay tuned for more information about the ASX and AUS-X Open next week.

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Just as quickly as they begun, the New Zealand Motocross Nationals ended over the weekend in stunning fashion at the popular Harrisville circuit, south of Auckland. Cody Cooper, Jay Wilson and Josiah Natzke claimed MX1, MX2 and 125cc victories. Get the full run down of results in this week’s NZ Insider column.

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Speaking of Wilson (technically Australia’s first-ever FIM Motocross World champion), did you know that he’s only the second Aussie to ever win a New Zealand MX title? “I’ve won two New Zealand SX titles but this is my first MX title win,” said Wilson. “To learn that it’s the only second time an Australian has won and that the previous winner was Craig Dack is pretty awesome, too.” Well done, mate.

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The 2015 MX Nationals is kicking off next weekend at Horsham in Victoria. All eyes will be on Suzuki’s Matt Moss and Yamaha’s Luke Clout in the MX1 and MX2 categories, of course, but there’s loads of riders that will be giving them a serious run for their money this year. We’ll have a complete season preview online next week – stay tuned.

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Notch one up for the old boys. Actually, make that five! Yes, in just 12 months since the team’s formation, Husqvarna Enduro Racing has racked up an astounding five national titles, and all of them have come from blokes in their 30s (Glenn Kearney, who won the 2014 AORC and A4DE E3-class titles) and 40s (Damian Smith, who won the 2014 AORC and A4DE Vets-class titles, and Mike Brown, who clinched the Enduro-X Nats silverware last weekend). It’s kinda fitting that old boys are doing the business on a brand that prides itself on its 112-year heritage.

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If you haven’t already done so, check out the highlights from the third and final round of the 2015 InsureMyRide Australian Enduro-X Nationals, staged at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway over the weekend.

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Hard on the heels of the InsureMyRide Australian Enduro-X Nationals, the 2015 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) kicks off this weekend in Kilkivan, Queensland, meaning off-road teams and racers have had a damn busy start to the year and racked up plenty of miles in their team trucks. As detailed this week, Transmoto has been granted naming-right sponsorship of the 19 & Under class again for season 2015 – the stepping-stone class introduced for 2014, which proved a huge success. Stay tuned to Transmoto’s and the AORC’s Facebook channels throughout the weekend for images and updates.

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Speaking of the AORC, the series will kick off without one of the sport’s tribal elders, Damian Smith, who retired from full-timing racing at the end of last season. Damo has been part of the very fabric of the off-road scene in Oz since the early 1990s. During that time, he’s represented Australia 16 times at the ISDE (where he’s collected nine gold medals), won nine A4DE titles, and is the four-time and reigning Vets-class AORC champ. So, how’s the 40-year-old holding up ahead of the weekend’s AORC? Badly! The poor bastard is climbing the walls, wondering what to do with himself.

^ Damo Smith with five-time Enduro World Champion, the late Mika Ahola – who lived and trained with Smith in Oz when the pair both rode TMs in the late 1990s…

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Contesting this weekend’s AORC round will be MXer, Errol Willis, on board a 300cc two-stroke, riding with the Motul Pirelli Sherco team – to put a toe in the off-road waters. Good luck, dude.

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KTM’s Taddy Blazusiak claimed his sixth consecutive FIM SuperEnduro World Championship title at the final round of the 2015 series in Cahors, France, over the weekend. Entering the final round of the series with a healthy 42-point lead in the championship, Blazusiak knew exactly what he had to do to ensure the title was his. Third in race one, the Polish rider improved to take second in race two before ending his night third in race three for third Overall – enough to win very comfortably.

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Australia’s Josh Strang has scored two strong second place finished behind Kailub Russell in the 2015 Grand National Cross Country series, but our reigning A4DE champ, Daniel Milner, has really struggled in the US. He crashed at the opening round and had a “downer” of a weekend at Round 2, but is hoping to come out swinging at Round 3. We believe in you, Doogs.

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Next weekend’s 2015 Transmoto 12-Hour looks like being another doozie. With 90 four-man teams and 20 gluttons for Ironman-class punishment, some 400 riders will line up for the fifth running of annual teams event on the NSW south coast, and with lots of fresh-cut tracks and a fair bit of rain in recent weeks, entrants look like they’re in for primo conditions. Which, after the past two years of dust, will be welcome relief on the pristine private property that was previously home to the 2006 A4DE and the 2007 and 2010 rounds of the AORC.

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At only 14 years old, Mexican Erick Ruiz was throwing down big tricks such as Dead Body Varials, Scorpion Double Grabs and huge Christ Airs on board his YZ125. He had his own fresh, flowing style, riding in tight black jeans and twisting his body in such unique positions. Erick, now 19, has evolved into a well-established freestyle motocross athlete. Transmoto‘s Ben Heidrich caught up with him this week for a chat.

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Want to see a loose 360 on a 50cc bike? Jump on our Instagram @transmoto and watch the clip we posted of Josh Cachia this morning!

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Click here to find out what’s inside Transmoto Dirt Bike Magazine’s 2015 March-April issue (#49), and be sure to grab yourself a print or digital edition. You can grab a print edition at your local newsagents, or a digital version via the App Store or Zinio.

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Got a dirt bike you want to sell? How about some used gear, parts or accessories? Thanks to the Transmoto Trader, you can now advertise what you’ve got to sell in front of a captive audience of over 100,000 unique website browsers per month, more than 330,000 Facebook followers and 12,000-plus Instagram followers. Create an account via Transmoto’s website (it’s quick and easy to do, and you can even log in using your Facebook account) and start posting. Start buying, selling and swapping your unwanted bikes, gear, parts and accessories.

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Australian-owned oil company, Penrite, has secured the naming-rights sponsorship of the seventh annual Broadford Bike Bonanza, to be held at the Broadford Motorcycle Complex this coming Easter (April 4-5). For more info, go to ma.org.au or contact Peter Drakeford via email: peter@ma.org.au

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Online motorcycle accessory store, MX1 Australia, and Suzuki Australia have again joined forces to field a three-rider team for the 2015 off-road racing season. The team will be racing on the all-new registrable 2015 Suzuki RMX450Z and have signed Trent Lean, Wil Ruprecht and Luke Bussa.

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As many of you will know, the motorcycle stunts in the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road movie (the fourth in the infamous Mad Max lineage, but the first without Mel Gibson) were performed by Aussie riders, led by the movie’s motorcycle stunt coordinator, four-time Mister Motocross, Stephen Gall. So what’s planned for the movie’s premiere in May? Sadly, a tight-lipped Gall couldn’t be drawn to comment about it, but we’re hearing rumours that Sydney’s George St is the place to be on Saturday night, May 13, if you want to see some Fury Road machinery and stars in the flesh. Stay tuned while we dig deeper for details in the coming weeks.

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Peter Stevens Motorcycles has ramped up its sponsorship in motocross, partnering with DPH Motorsports to create the DPH Peter Stevens Yamaha Racing team for the 2015 MX Nats and ASX. The team will be spearheaded by two very handy peddlers, Lawson Bopping and Ross Beaton (when Beaton has returned from injury at the season’s halfway point, that is). Until then, DPH has signed another ‘mystery’ rider, shown below, who we can confirm is Cheyne Boyd. The team came really close to signing MX2 ripper, Dylan Long, but went for Boydy instead.

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