THROWDOWN NO.252 – 28/08/15

In their 60^th anniversary year, Yamaha continue to kick goals in motocross racing circles this season – in America, Europe and back home in Australia. Last weekend at the penultimate Toowoomba round of the MX Nats, Yamaha won all four classes – Kade Mosig (MX1), Jay Wilson (MX2), Wilson Todd (MXD) and Hunter Lawrence (MX Rookies). The latter three riders are all poised to wrap up their respective titles this weekend at Coolum. With 75 points still up for grabs, Kade Mosig has a mathematical chance to beat KTM’s Kirk Gibbs. But 61 points is a big differential to make up, so Mosig’s only hope is that Gibbs has a shocker. For a take-stock of the MX Nats after Round 9, check out our online article here.

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Speaking of Yamaha’s 60^th anniversary, Transmoto was invited to the launch of the new 2016 YZ450F machine, held at Cessnock MX track a few weeks ago. An exclusive Transmoto video featuring a review of the new bike being ridden by some of Australia’s fastest dirt bike riders can be found here.

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Ben Townley demonstrated his wealth of experience and speed with a third overall at Round 9 of the MX Nats. This must be a confidence-builder for Townley as he prepares for his appearance at the final round of the MXGP series at Glen Helen. This week’s NZ Insider has more. Check it out.

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Last weekend’s penultimate round of the MX Nats at Toowoomba’s infamous Echo Valley circuit not only produced some ding-dong battles, it also ensured that we’d have to wait until this weekend’s Coolum series finale for the titles to be decided – the way it should be. Coolum’s vibrant pit paddock – renowned for the winter racing season’s first glimpse of spring weather and the hotpants that brings out of hibernation – will get a dose of celebrity this year. According to series promoter, WEM, two-wheeled royalty Mick Doohan and Troy Bayliss, V8 legends Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup, and World Surfing’s Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson will all be attending the Sunshine Coast event this weekend.

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If you haven’t already, make sure you check out Transmoto’s hot shots from Round 4 of the East Coast MX Championship held at Maitland, NSW.

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What an anti-climax the AMA Outdoors’ 250MX-class showdown turned out to be last weekend, with an uncharacteristic mechanical sidelining Factory Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin just a few laps into the day’s opening moto. With Jeremy Martin and Marvin going 1-2 in qualifying, it was shaping up to be a showdown for the ages, but Aaron Plessinger stole the show with his first Overall. Whatever your take on the weekend’s title decider, you just can’t overstate the character that Marvin Musquin demonstrated. In spite of his bitter disappointment, the Frenchman spoke in classy, gracious terms about both his team and his rivals without a hint of self-pity. As he’s done all year, Musquin spoke from the heart too, rather than boring the pants of TV audiences by rattling off a long list of sponsors. American riders could learn a lot from this guy. If you missed any of the action, make sure you catch up on the final round’s highlights video.

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With everyone’s attention understandably focused on the title showdown at the AMA Outdoor finale in Indiana, it was easy to overlook the ongoing success of an Aussie rider in the field. Hayden Mellross went a very credible 13-14 at the season finale and achieved a personal goal of finishing the 2015 250MX-class championship in the top-20. Nice work, fella. It’d be great to see more young Aussie MXers take themselves out of their comfort zones and have a lash in either America or Europe. If Australia is ever going to get back to being a world-class motocross nation (as it is in enduro circles), that’s an absolute prerequisite.

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Ken Roczen’s dad, Heiko, has unloaded his fury about the decisions the RCH Suzuki team has been making regarding the set-up of Ken’s bike this season. USA Insider‘s columnist Jason Weigandt caught up Kenny to see what he made of this explosion in this week’s column. Of course, K-Roc threw cold water on his old man’s suggestions. But you’d have to think that Heiko is too much of an insider to be wrong about a lot of his accusations; not without getting called out on it, anyway.

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When Round 16 of the Motocross World Championship gets under way at the famous Dutch road-racing circuit in Assen, you can bet your bottom dollar there’s going to be a lot more smack-talk in response to the contentious comments Ryan Dungey made earlier this week about the alleged lack of depth and talent in the MXGP paddock. This cool piece on GateDrop.com summarises the situation better than most. Our own David Bulmer also touches on RD’s bizarre and out-of-character comments in his MXGP Insider column this week.

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American vs European moto politics aside, Yamaha’s Romain Febvre will be looking forward to the Assen sand because all he has to do is finish in front of fellow Frenchman Gautier Paulin and he’ll be crowned 2015 MXGP World Champion. In the MX2 class, just 4 points separate KTM’s Pauls Jonass and Honda’s Tim Gajser at the top of the points standings, but these two are likely to battle it out for the three remaining rounds – Assen, Mexico and the USA. In fact, if Kawasaki’s Max Anstie continues on his tear, he may also be in with a shot at the title by the time the series is decided in America on September 19.

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A snapshot of who’s riding for who in the upcoming MXoN in France has been released this week, so click here to find out more about each team’s line-up for 2015.

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A majority of the riders on Australia’s 2015 ISDE team are flying out of the country this weekend en route for Slovakia, where they’ll spend much of next week unpacking containers, building bikes and pre-walking special tests in preparation for the event’s September 7 kick-off. It’s fair to say that the French Senior team is again a short-odds favourite to defend their ISDE crown, but the Aussies are not far behind on paper. And with the injection of fast, fresh blood into the Aussie teams (in the shape of Beau Ralston and Tye Simmonds), could this be the year that the Aussies finally create a slice of enduro history? Here’s hoping! Keep an eye on Transmoto’s social media channels next week for behind-the-scenes insights into what the Aussie team is up to.

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You still wondering what the hell “ZELENA” meant on the back of Josh Green’s ISDE helmet, which we posted on Transmoto‘s Instagram page this week? It was bugging us too, so we called the Aussie Team member today before he flew out for the Slovakian event. “It means Green in Slovakian,” Green told us in matter-of-fat terms. “I’ve got Green written on the back of my jersey, so I wanted to make sure the locals could quickly identify who I was.”

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Troy Bayliss Events has confirmed that the Sydney Moto Expo – held at Sydney Olympic Park on November 20-22 – will feature two days of EnduroCross racing, whose “Head2Head” format proved a huge success at the Melbourne Moto Expo last year. With the Sydney H2H EnduroCross to be held in the tight confines of the wood-chopping amphitheatre, it promises to offer superb vantage points for spectators.

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A few months back, we got a call from a reader called Ryan King who’d broken his neck in a crash, came within a whisker of dying and, after a long recovery process, wanted to impart the lessons he learned from the experience. Ryan then contacted us again a couple of weeks ago, this time to let us know that after reading his story of survival on our site, Ryan King was reunited with the paramedics who saved his life. Click here to read more.

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Are you across the all-new “EnduroGP” class that’s been introduced for the 2016 Enduro World Championship? What about the other ideas that have been floated for next year’s series? Check this plain-English, top-line take-stock of what we can expect from the EWC’s 2016 season, from Transmoto’s European colleagues over at Enduro21.com

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If you’re yet to watch Headstrong, the Russell Brothers’ masterpiece about Aussie FMX ripper, Jackson Strong, do yourself a favour and check it out. It’s now available on DVD through ebay.

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In this week’s FMX Insider, Ben Heidrich caught up with Freestyle Kings owner Josh Hannah to chat about the extreme show filled with insane FMX tricks, pyrotechnics, V8 utes, monster trucks and all the action that went down in 2015.

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If you are still a bit shell-shocked from the magnificence of Robbie Maddison’s Pipe Dream, don’t worry, you are not alone. Sony Action Cam have released an onboard look into the making of the video, decking out Maddison with cameras from his boots to his bike to give you a first-hand view of the epic stunt. Click here to view the video.

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Robbie Maddison’s Pipe Dream has gone viral with over 17 million views, but did you know Maddo was in an induced coma on life support the week the video was released? Maddo survived the fierce waves of Teahupo on a dirt bike, but was almost taken by a backyard dirt jump on his BMX bike just days before he attended the film’s SoCal premier. Click here to view the video that put him in a hospital bed.

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Husqvarna Australia has confirmed that the prices of its 2016 models – MX and enduro – will remain unchanged from 2015 (see the attached table for details). The new TC250 and TC85 are due in Australian dealers in October, with the rest of the MX models arriving in November. Check out Transmoto’s Sept-Oct issue (#52) for a full feature about the new-generation MXers. It goes on sale September 3.

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Husqvarna isn’t mucking around with their race team line-ups, announcing a number of confirmed rider contracts this week for season 2016 and beyond. Husqvarna North America announced that the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing team has signed two- and three-year extension deals with Jason Anderson and Christophe Pourcel, respectively. In Europe, Husky has also extended their deal with France’s Mathias Bellino, the current FIM Enduro 3 World Championship class leader. Belino’s Bel-Ray Husqvarna Factory Racing team has also signed 25-year-old Spaniard Mario Romain for the FIM FIM SuperEnduro World Championship and all major Extreme Enduro events. But what of the two Aussies aboard Husqvarnas in Europe? At this stage, word on the street is that neither Todd Waters nor Dean Ferris have done enough this year to retain their factory rides in the MX World Championship for 2016 – not with their respective Husqvarna teams, anyway. Hence the mounting speculation that both GP riders will return to a factory race team in Australia next year.

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Speaking of Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna’s Todd Waters, did you see the monumental crash he had at the Czech Republic round of the Motocross World Championship a month or so back, while battling Scotland’s Shaun Simpson for sixth place? That is one ragdoll slam, which the Aussie was lucky to walk away from relatively uninjured. Given his string of injuries ever since arriving in Europe late season, Waters is owed a lucky break. Let’s hope a European factory team sees the merit in giving the Australian a quality ride for 2016.

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Red Bull Straight Rhythm is set to return this year with a new location and a new track. A animation track video has been released providing an in-depth look at what some of the world’s best riders, including James Stewart and Ryan Dungey, are set to will face on October 10.

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Our best wishes go out to Aussie Speedway charger Darcy Ward, who has undergone spinal surgery after a heavy crash at a Polish Speedway League event last weekend left him with no feeling in his lower body. In a touching tribute to the 23-year-old Aussie, fans for the local Polish cub that Ward was riding for gathered in the hospital grounds outside Darcy’s room and chanted support for their hero. At this stage, doctors say they are unable to make a definitive prognosis on Ward’s injuries.

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Transmoto Dirt Bike Magazine‘s 2015 July-August issue (#51) is on sale now. Click here to find out what’s inside and be sure to grab a print copy from your local newsagents or a digital version via the Zinio App.

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