Thursday Throwdown No.22 – What’s going on with the SX Lites title?

What’s this “Thursday 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, Thursday Throwdown will touch on everything from racing to trail riding; from industry tidbits to issues facing the sport. It’s about delivering you timely information that can’t wait till the next issue of Transmoto magazine, and stuff we’d like to hear your immediate feedback on.

MX/SX

At the start of the week, we broke the story that the Lites Super X title could possibly be stripped from Matt Moss. The reason for this is because Moss didn’t complete the required 75% of the race distance in the first moto at Brisbane, meaning he could be forced to forego the 4 points he gained. This would put PJ Larsen in the lead by 2 points.

We’ve made some phone calls to try and find out what’s going on. As it stands, it’s too early to accurately make a call on what will happen with the title. We can say that Racing Director, Kevin Williams, and the promoter, Global Action Sports, don’t get a say in the matter. It’s up to MA to make the ruling, but they haven’t said when that’ll occur. MA’s Communications Officer, Erin Lagoudakis, said “It’s being investigated, and as soon as a decision has been made, MA will be making an announcement regarding it.”

We rang up Matt Moss and asked him what he thought about the current situation. Moss said “It’s a load of crap. I don’t see how someone can have a crash, stay on track, get back up and finish the race and be told they didn’t do enough laps around the track to get points. I put in 100% for that race.”.

Keep your eye on the Transmoto website tomorrow as we bring you more information about what’s happening.

Look fun? This is what the riders of the Australasian Super X series had to deal with at the Brisbane finale. At some points on the track, the ruts were so deep that riders were hitting the boards that were laid down to protect the stadium’s grass. Check out the rest of the shots in our Brisbane Super X Gallery.

The 2010 Finke, Hattah, AORC and A4DE champion, Motorex KTM Off-Road’s Toby Price, made a surprise visit to the Brisbane Super X finale. In his younger years, Price was all over the motocross and supercross scene, which is why he finished a very commendable seventh in the Opens class. Here’s an interview we did with him after the racing was over.

Ever wanted to know what it’s like in the commentary box at the Super X? Normally it’s off-limits, but Transmoto Editor, Andy Wigan, slyly dodged the No Entry sign on the door and casually waved around his Media Pass. It turns out the commentators want to learn how to fly. Check it out…

Danny Ham will be racing selected rounds of the 2011 MX Nationals series on an Axis Motorsport creation, powered by a CR500 donk. Hammy rode selected rounds this year on a KX450F, and finished a credible twelfth at the Moree round. Hammy comments about his efforts this year in his online Q & A session, “I did do a few National races this year; it was just for fun, so it wasn’t taken too seriously. I did get a few half decent results — even a seventh. Not bad, considering how little training and practice I did. I’ve now got a new respect for Privateers! Man it was hard trying to work, then train. Most of the time it resulted in finding a couch…”

Every day this week we’ve released two or three interviews from the Brisbane Super X round. Transmoto’s Andy Wigan and Greg Smith went camera-crazy, and got 14 behind-the-scenes interviews with various riders and industry figures. They were too good to lump in one article, so we ‘chucked a WikiLeaks’ and decided we would release them through the week.

Check out the videos so far:

• Super X Opens Champion, Josh Hansen
• Interviews with Matt Moss and PJ Larsen
• In the commentary box at Super X
• Belgium’s Joel Roelants
• Josh Cachia
• Custom helmet talk with Mark Brown
• CDR Yamaha’s Jeff Alessi
• Chad’s father, Mark Reed, talks about the early days of the Super X series
• Tye Simmonds race reflection

Enduro

Rumour has is that GHR Honda is chasing Safari runner-up and CPW KTM rider, Todd Smith, luring him with Finke, Safari and Dakar opportunities. Smith would be joining his brother, Jake Smith, on the team, and would replace AJ Roberts in the Finke and Safari. If it does happen it will be a case of history repeating itself, after all it was Todd who took AJ out in the 2010 Australasian Safari.

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Glenn Kearney and Bartoz Obluki are confirmed for the Australian Husqvarna Enduro team, joining Matt Ryan and Luka Bussa in the 2011 season. It looks like a strong team for Husky. It won’t be easy for them though, with the Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha team boosting their numbers from five to seven with a line up that includes Chris Hollis — see our two-part Chinwag with Hollis. The Motorex Off-Road KTM team will also be a force to be reckoned with, retaining the same 2010 line-up with Toby Price, Jarrod Bewley, Ben Grabham and Brad Williscroft.

FMX

Oz Crusty Demon legend, Matt Schubring, will attempt to backflip his KTM 250SX over a double-decker bus today, all in the name of Charity. Schubring is doing the flip for the Christmas Appeal. The stunt will happen at 3-4pm today at the Mt Gravatt show grounds in Queensland. If you’re in the area, head down and support the cause.

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On January 15th, Coffs Harbour will play hosts to some of Australia’s best FMX riders. Project FMX is a search to find Oz’s best all-round FMX rider. Confirmed for the competition so far is Matt Schubring, Nitro Circus star Michael Norris, Robbie Marshal, Leight Harriman, Rhys Hillier, Stever Somerfeld and local legends Daniel Hall and Jake Bowen. The competition will be held at a specially built compound at Sandy Beach, just five minutes north of the Big Banana. Tickets are available online at www.oztix.com.au. It’s expected they will sell out so make sure you get in quick.

INDUSTRY

The new MOTO2 DVD is out now, and it’s epic! We caught up with producer Taylor Congdon and asked him some questions about the movie, but you’ll have to wait until next week for the full interview. We can tell you that there could be a MOTO3 in 2011, and Australia could be making an appearance, too. Cool, eh!

If you haven’t seen MOTO2 yet, go and pick up a copy. They’ve taken some of the best riders in the world and jammed them all into one movie. You’ve got Ben Townley, Trey Canard, Eli Tomac, David Knight, Ken Roczen, Antonio Cairoli and many, many more. If you want to grab yourself a free copy, all you need to do is become a member of Transmoto.com.au and you’ll go into the draw.

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Little Hudson John Sinclair

Congratulations again to Mick and Krystal Sinclair on their little man, Hudson John Sinclair, who was born on November 21, 2010. He was a mere 6lb 6oz. Uncle Cam reckons he’ll become the youngest-ever person to flip a dirt bike.

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Christmas is looming, and you’ve got less than three weeks to make sure you’ve got all the presents sorted. If you’re stumped for ideas, why not Subscribe to Transmoto?. You’ll not only go into the draw to win a 2011 Husqvarna TE449, but you’ll receive a bonus Safari DVD with over 100 minutes of footage in Issue #6. But be quick, you’ve got to subscribe before December 15 to have Issue #6 delivered to your door — otherwise you’ll have to wait for Issue #7.