Thursday Throwdown No.45 – Pourcel back to Europe…

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 trailriding; 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.

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Frenchman Christophe Pourcel recently parted ways with MotoConcepts Yamaha in the States. There are unconfirmed reports that he will head back to Europe and ride in the MX1 class for the CLS Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team, to fill in for the injured Ben Townley.
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The 2011 Australasian Super X schedule has been released, indicating this year’s series will be pared down from seven to five rounds. The season will kick off with its first ever event in Melbourne on October 22, and then visit Wollongong, Sydney, Maitland, and Ipswich on successive weekends. Strangely, there’s still no word about the race formats that’ll be used at each round or ticking pricing, but Global Action Sports Managing Director, Mike Porra, did say that ticket pricing has been reviewed and that there is ” an all new and more affordable ticket price structure”.

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Red Bull KTM’s Andrew Short, TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed and San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart have all confirmed their attendance for the Monster Energy Cup, to be held in Las Vegas on October 15. The event boasts a $1 million prize purse for the rider who wins all three main events. Supercross/motocross icons Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Carmichael are designing the track. It’s going to be huge!

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The Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship will reach the halfway point this weekend at RedBud. Current leader in the 450cc class is TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed, on 223 points, followed by Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto, 215, with Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, 202, rounding out the podium. In the 250 class, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson sits eight points in front of teammate Tyla Rattray, with their other teammate, Blake Baggett sitting in third.

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The 2011 Australian Junior Motocross World Championship team has been announced. It will see a team of six Junior riders head to Cingoli, Italy, on August 13-14 to compete on the world stage. Leading the 125cc charge is Luke Clout (NSW) and Scott Mann (Qld) with Jesse Dobson (Qld) and Wilson Todd (Qld) in the 85cc class. Hunter Lawrence (Qld) and Reece Rayner (Qld) will vie for the 65cc title. Filling the role of Team Manager will be Mark Willingham, who has been in the role previously for the 2009 Junior MX World Championships. Joel Milesevic, Mitchell Evans and Callum Norton are reserves for the team. Go get ’em, boys!

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CDR Rockstar Yamaha’s Jay Marmont and Josh Coppins will make a guest appearance at the Whitehouse Motorcycles Accessories’ Albury store this Friday night from 6 to 7pm for autograph signings, before racing Round 7 of the MX Nats at Albury on Sunday.

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Jay Marmont will return to Western Australia to defend his title in the BGC Contracting King of the Cross, held on August 6-7 at the Southern Cross motocross track. With 450-500 riders competing over the two days, the Senior competitors will be chasing a share of $45,000 in prize money over the weekend, with the winner taking home a cool $10,000. This year, the event will also play host to the third round of the State Women’s Motocross Title. Camping is permitted, with fireworks on Saturday night, and a bar and canteen open all weekend. No BYO. For contact details, head to http://www.sxmcc.com.au/contact.html.

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Current AMA ATV MX Championship series Pro class points leader, Chad Wiener, has had a season-ending back injury last Friday during training at his Illinois practice track. Wiener broke two vertebrae in his back but, fortunately, suffered no major spinal cord damage and has feeling in his extremities.

Husqvarna has just released a very special offer on their 2011-model TE511. Not only are they offering $1800 off the RRP itself – a reduction from $12,295 to $10,495 – but they also have a bonus package that includes an Akrapovic Racing Exhaust, valued at $1340, and a Husky 3x3m Alloy Race Tent worth $695. And we thought the deals on the Japanese enduro bikes (Honda’s $1000 off or Kawasaki’s $2000 extras package) were good.

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Motorex KTM’s Ben “Grabbo” Grabham was at last week’s Australian KTM 2012 launch at Wyaralong Moto Park in Queensland. With his arm in plaster, as a result of his Finke injury, rumour has it Grabbo is using a super high-tech method of healing enhancement that may see him back on the bike for the next round of the AORC in late August. If it’s true, he has one hell of a witchdoctor!

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Transmoto Off-Road Editor, AJ Roberts, is reportedly ‘flying’ on his Honda CR250R, shaving more than a few seconds off his favourite test track. “I’ve been on a 450 for six years, so it’s a great change to be on a new bike,” states Roberts. ” I feel extremely positive about the move to the E1 class and I can’t wait for the A4DE to kick off on July 7 in Mackay.”

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Speaking of the A4DE, most riders are heading up to Mackay this weekend with the intention of walking the special tests as early as possible. But A4DE organisers have received a request asking if track walks could be postponed until after the Hattah Desert Race is completed, so no one would be disadvantaged from competing in both events. It sounds like the Orange freight train may have pushed hard to get that decision though.

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The Hattah Desert Race will begin this weekend, with scrutineering and sign-on commencing on Friday in Mildura in Victoria’s north-west. Juniors will ride on the Saturday, with the main event scheduled for Sunday. The grueling eight-lap 35km loop takes place through unique Mallee scrubland, with tight technical sections through to wide open paddocks and sandhills. Reigning Hattah champion, Toby Price, will be riding extra hard to retain his title, after a recent mechanical failure in this year’s Finke Desert Race.

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Australian Josh Strang has extended his lead to 11 points after a solid victory at the Snowshoe GNCC last weekend. Snowshoe, dubbed America’s toughest race, was even harder than usual after scattered showers made conditions treacherous. In the final lap, Strang made a pass on WMR Off-road/Clockwork/FMF/Planet Fitness KTM’s Nate Kanney and never looked back.

Australian FMX star, Robbie Maddison, has said on Twitter he has plans for another massive jump. Maddo has a habit of doing crazy high-flying acts, having gapped the 85-metre distance over Corinth Canal at a height of nearly 100 metres in Greece. In 2009, he did a 30-metre step-up onto the Arc de Triomphe in Las Vegas. And he did a Backflip on the Tower Bridge over the River Thames while the drawbridge was up. What could he possible do to top that?

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Sydney’s Cockatoo Island will host this year’s 2011 X-Fighters finale on September 17. The planet’s top freestyle motocross riders, including world champion Nate Adams, will be making the journey Down Under to attempt to take out the Red Bull X-Fighters crown. Tickets for the event will go on-sale from July 3 at Ticketek.

Take a look at this cool TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed shoe design. Want a pair? Unfortunately, they were designed for someone’s school project and aren’t going to be produced.

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The late Paul Broomfield’s jersey will be auctioned off in the next month, with all proceeds going to the Tin Lids Foundation, which has been established to help Broomy’s family. Details on how to bid on the auction will be released shortly.

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Director of Lusty Industries, Johnny McLean, has entered to race this weekend’s Hattah Desert Race. We’ve heard he’s been training hard for the event, but we’ll have to wait and see whether he makes it to the chequered flag.

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Kawasaki USA has announced that 25-year veteran and current Kawasaki Team Green amateur-racing manager, Reid Nordin, will now manage the company’s professional racing programs, effective immediately. Nordin will continue to oversee the amateur program as senior race team manager.

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Rick Campbell and Glen Laivins from USA-based handguard and plastics specialists, Cycra, were in town this week, visiting their Australian distributors at Ficeda Accessories. After sampling a few Aussie trails at the Watagan Trail Bike Rally over the weekend, they swung by Transmoto HQ to give us an update about some of their cool new products (a whole range of handguards, new high-end plastics and an all-new disposal plastic skidplate) and other interesting plans they have in the pipeline. It was cool to hear the inside story of how Chad Reed contacted Cycra to run their product on his TwoTwo Motorsports bikes, too. “I was pretty amazed that Chad Reed called us direct, asking to use our product on his Honda this season,” explains Cycra Sales Manager Rick Campbell. “Chad’s always been particular about what he uses and he actually asked us to make two front guard mouldings for him, as he likes his guard to sit a little lower than standard. And there was no conflict when he started riding the Factory Honda as we’ve supplied product to that team for many years. No money changed hands this year with TwoTwo Motorsports, so we sure got some good value out of our signage on Chad’s bike. Though I get the feeling the deal may look a little different next year after Chad’s amazing success,” concluded Campbell with a chuckle.

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Jon Bentman, the original editor of MotoX Magazine in the UK and regular contributor to many moto mags around the globe, Transmoto included, is the editor of al-new UK-based magazine, Enduro Extreme.

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Monster Energy Australia will release public tickets to the Australian leg of the Ken Block Gymkhana World Tour on July 4, and they’re going to be free! A strick limited number of tickets will be available at 9am on July 4 from http://www.ticketmaster.com.au, with a limit of two per person. The event will be held at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway. The September 3 event will be the first chance for Australians to see the rally ace and viral video superstar in action.