Throwdown No.234 – 16/04/15

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Red Bull KTM rider, Ryan Dungey, earned his seventh win of the 2015 season, his second career 450SX title, and the first-ever 450SX title for the Austrian brand, KTM, when he claimed victory at Houston, the fourteenth round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series. “The team and I worked so hard to get to this point,” commented Dungey. “There are hardly words to explain how good this feels.” Just hours after Dungey wrapped up the championship, he re-signed his contract with KTM, and will remain on orange machinery through the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

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Did you know that Honda’s Cole Seely won his first-ever 450SX Main Event in Houston? Not many people do – all the hype has been surrounding Ryan Dungey and Red Bull KTM squad. You have to take a minute to tip your hat off to Seely. He’s one of only four rookies contesting the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross series in the premier class, and to win a round after going 14-14 at the opening rounds is really impressive.

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A milestone was reached for 18-year-old Cooper Webb and Team Blue as the seventh round of the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Western Regional Supercross series, held in Houston, was claimed by the Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha pilot. His fifth victory of the year secured him his first-ever Pro title, and delivered Yamaha its first 250SX title since 2008. Cooper will be a hard man to beat in the 250 class when the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship kicks off in May.

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The first European round on the 2015 MXGP calendar will take place this weekend in Arco di Trento. With three weekends spent away from racing, riders are geared up and ready to go. The EMX 125, 150 and 250 championships will kick off this weekend, too. We send our best to New Zealand’s Josiah Natzke, who is contesting the 125 series under Stefan Everts’ wing.

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Husqvarna Motorcycles has announced that Aleksandr Tonkov will race on board an all-new “250cc factory machine” at the fourth round of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship. The Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing rider will compete aboard the new bike from the first European Grand Prix onwards. Does this bike offer up an insight into what 2016 production bikes from Husqvarna will look like. Click here to find out what we reckon.

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It was a CDR Yamaha affair at the second round of the Aussie MX Nationals, with team riders, Kade Mosig and Daniel Reardon, taking a race win each, before Mosig collected his second career MX1 Overall round win. KTM Motocross Racing Team’s Kirk Gibbs started his day off on the wrong foot, falling hard in the opening moto, being forced to charge from dead last all the way up to third, finishing the moto behind teammate, Luke Styke, and Mosig. The second moto, however, belonged to Reardon. After securing an early and confident race lead, Reardon took the chequered flag ahead of Gibbs and Styke to claim his first race win since returning from retirement. After finishing the second moto in fourth, Mosig did enough to stand on top of the podium, sharing honours with Gibbs in second and Styke in third.

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The opening MX1 moto had barely gotten underway at Appin when two-time defending champ, Team Motul Suzuki’s Matt Moss, went down in the first turn. After being carted off the track, Moss was airlifted from the track with unconfirmed injuries. It has since been confirmed that Moss will spend up to two months off the bike, meaning a new premier-class champion will be crowned in 2015.

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On home soil, in front of family and friends, Serco Yamaha’s Luke Clout sealed the deal in the MX2 class at Appin, claiming his first Overall round win for season 2015. Clout, who had a fight on his hands from the minute the gates dropped, went head-to-head with JCR Yamaha’s Jay Wilson over two action-packed races, eventually claiming the Overall round win on a count back. Over both motos, Wilson and Clout banged bars, and provided fans and spectators with some of the most thrilling racing action that Appin has seen in years.

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The 2015 FIM Enduro World Championship (EWC) is kicking off this weekend in Chile. Aussie fans will have their eyes on Matt Phillips, the man from Tasmania who surprised everybody last year, dominating the second half of the season to take home the E3 title, just one year after being crowned the Junior World champ. This year, Matty can expect tough competition from teammate, Ivan Cervantes, as well as Sherco’s Matti Seistola and Husqvarna’s Mathias Bellino.

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Corner Inlet Motorcycle Club Clerk of Course, Peter Bohn, expects his tracks to be in elite shape for the third and fourth rounds of the 2015 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC), taking place at Hedley in Victoria this weekend. “The track prep is in its final stages; it’s pretty much all bunted and laid out, and everything is on track to be right to go,” said Bohn. “Hopefully there will be a bit of rain floating around on Friday. It’s a bit damp underneath from the rain we’ve had, but it is sandy down there, so it dries out pretty quick on top.” This weekend’s AORC rounds will comprise of a Cross County on Saturday and a Sprint on Sunday.

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Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Josh Strang continued his silver streak over the weekend, claiming his fourth consecutive second place finish of the 2015 Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) season. Strang started in second behind points leader, Factory FMF/KTM rider, Kailub Russell. Midway through the first lap, Strang closed the gap to five seconds from the leader. Strang made a mistake at the end of the first lap and tipped over losing some time. He remounted and charged ahead closing the gap up to 25 seconds. As the track got very rough, the time gap stayed the same and became a race of being consistent and smart. Strang rode a smart racing bringing it in with a second place finish. Fellow Aussie GNCC competitor, Yamaha-mounted Daniel Milner, suffered a broken chain over the weekend, adding to a string of disastrous luck in 2015.

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The greatest achievements of Paulo Goncalves’ rally riding career have come since signing for Team HRC several years ago. These successes include clinching the 2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship and taking runner-up position in the most recent edition of the Dakar Rally. To read an interview with Goncalves, where he speaks about being at the top of his game at 36 years of age, click here.

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Speaking of the Dakar Rally, the 2016 route has just been released. Without Chile, which has been affected by tragic floods in the regions which usually welcome the rally, a brand new journey through the continent has been prepared for the competitors. From Lima in Peru to Rosario in Argentina via the high plains of Bolivia, the riders and drivers will experience a Dakar of contrasts. For more information, click here.

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22-year-old NSW-based rider, Tom Robinson, has been hot property on the Australian FMX circuit for a while now. He competed in the early days of the RFDmx series as a young up-and-comer and is now riding overseas with the big names of the sport. Transmoto‘s Ben Heidrich caught up with Robinson for a chat this week – read in the interview in our latest FMX Insider column.

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A lone wolf is an individual who prefers solitude, is introverted, and works alone. In Wes Agee’s case, he rides alone most of the time, pushing the boundaries of freestyle motocross and freeriding by himself. The concept behind his new film, titled, On The Pipe: The Lone Wolf, is to push the level of what is possible between man and machine in the sport of FMX and in the daredevil motorcycle jumping world. He’ll be meeting up with other lone wolves at their local natural terrain spots and filming with them. You can check out the official trailer for the film and support the production via KickStarter here.

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The first Red Bull X-Fighters Jam of 2015 took place in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, where the world’s top riders put on an epic showing of freestyle motocross mastery. Insane combos such as One Handed Heart Attacks, Lazy Boys, Rock Solids, Nac Nac Flips, Shaolin Flips, Tsunamis and a whole slue of Superman Grabs filled the sky as Hong Kong watched in awe. Take a look back at some of the top moments from their session.

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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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Motorcycling Australia President, Braxton Laine, has released an open letter, providing an update on the Whole of Sport Review that is currently taking place. “By now, all would be aware that Motorcycling Australia is conducting a Whole of Sport Review (WOSR) of its business,” said Laine. “We provided stakeholders with an opportunity to be a part of this process by providing feedback via the ‘Have your Say’ survey. Over the next few weeks, I am going to release the findings to you all because I made a pledge to members that I would be transparent. The recommendations from the WOSR will form the basis of a new operating and funding model based on the feedback provided by members and stakeholders.” To read the entire letter, which details a circumstance in which all current MA board members may be forced to step down from their positions, click here.

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Lowry Australia has announced that the YCF 50A has been approved by Motorcycling Australia for competition use in the 50cc Demo Class nationally. The YCF 50A is a fully automatic, 50cc four-stroke, electric-start kids fun bike with a retail price of $1,590 ride away from YCF dealers nationwide. It features a low seat height of 550mm, USD front forks, machined alloy triple clamps, disc brakes (front and rear) and is one of the lightest bikes in its class at only 42kg. For more information, click here.

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