Thursday Throwdown No.49 – Danny Ham’s latest beast…

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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Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Dean Ferris sustained an injury during the penultimate round of the Rockstar MX Nationals at Moree after going down hard in the third moto. Coughing up blood and with a sore hand, Ferris was forced to pull out of the rest of the day’s racing. Ferris has dropped to third place in the Championship, 40 points behind CDR Rockstar Yamaha’s Josh Coppins, and 22 off Jay Marmont. He’s since been given the all-clear from doctors to race the final round. Ferris said, “I decided that, regardless of how it went with the doctors and specialists today, I wanted to race. Pain is only temporary.” Now that’s determination from the 21-year-old!

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The CDR Rockstar Yamaha team has put themselves in a great position for the final round of the Australian Motocross Championship. Josh Coppins has captured the Pro Open red plate, on 603 points in the standings, with Marmont close behind (585). Coppins now looks to Coolum where he will attempt to maintain his title lead, saying, “I’ve been doing a lot of riding at the beach back home in New Zealand, so that should be good preparation for the sand next weekend in Coolum.” With 18 points between the Yamaha teammates, Marmont knows it’s going to be tough to pull his forth-straight championship victory. “I’ll be trying hard to make up the difference,” Marmont said. “The last three years I’ve been to Coolum, I have walked away with the championship, so that’s something I’d like to continue.”

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American Honda Racing’s Trey Canard has suffered another setback to his 450cc Outdoor debut season, sustaining a fractured femur after a nasty crash in Moto 2 during Round 8 of the AMA Motocross at Washougal. The 450cc rookie previously broke his leg during a pre-season training accident and only made his return for Round 7 at Spring Creek. Canard said via Twitter, “Went to the doctor today. Surprisingly, it’s a completely different break. Go in for a small surgery tomorrow to get some metal removed.” Unfortunately, this crash will likely see Canard out for the rest of the motocross season.

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TwoTwo Motorsports/Bel-Ray Racings’ Chad Reed had a tough race at Washougal due to the injuries sustained during his spectacular high-flying crash at the Spring Creek round. Reed just missed out on a podium finish, taking fourth. But he admits, “It was a really tough day today. I did the best I could, but I struggled out there.” After leading the championship since Round 1, Reed has relinquished the red plate and now sits in third in the standings, nine points behind current red plate holder, Ryan Villopoto. Reed now has a three-week break to recover, with the series resuming at Unadilla on August 13.

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Team Raceline Pirelli Suzuki’s Errol Willis dominated Round 8 of the MX Nationals at Moree. Finishing with a 1-1-1-1 result, Willis has captured the Under 19s Championship title with one round still to go. With an unassailable lead of 106 points, the Wagga-based rider says he is keen to further stamp his dominance on the field at the Coolum final.

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Speaking of Willis, we’ve heard him and Lawson Bopping could be doing a bit of road-tripping next month. The two likable characters have plans to ride the Dubbo Road MX Open in mid-August and then head down to Errol’s hometown in Wagga. More on that in the next few weeks…

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Round 4 of the Victorian Junior MX Championship, which was to be held this weekend at the Albury-Wodonga Motorcycle Club, has been moved due to extreme weather conditions. The final round will now take place at Goulburn Valley Junior Motorcycle Club this weekend.

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The Australia Fox Team will be debuting the 2012 Fox MX range on Sunday at Coolum. Keep an eye out for Jay Marmont, Josh Coppins, Cody Mackie, Dylan Peterson, Sam Duncanson, Kieran Hall, Justin McDonald and Jake Emanuelli to check out the new threads.

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For the second year running, the final round of the MX Nationals will see the running of the Australia Vets Cup. The cup sees two classes: the 30 to 39 years and 40+. Some of the standout names include: Cam Taylor, Travis Regeling, Nathan Brochtrup, Christian Horwood, Steven Powell, Craig Carmichael, Danny Ham, Mal Cash, Johnny McLean and Barry Sarawski.

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Speaking of the Oz Vets Cup, JDR Team Manager, Danny Ham, sent through the saucy photo (the Throwdown’s opening pic) of his 2012 two-stroke that he’s racing this weekend. It’s running Reardon’s factory suspension, an FMF factory pipe and Shorty Muffler. It sounds like Hammy’s found his long-lost love, “It cracks! It sounds sweet and smells even better!”

Reigning Australasian Safari winner, Ben Grabham, turned 30 last week. He’s a month into his intense rehab for the wrist and thumb injuries he sustained at Finke in early June, and is on-track to line-up for the Safari in WA in late September. Asked about the prospect of racing three-time Dakar winner, fellow KTM rider Cyril Despres, Grabbo said, “To be honest, I’m not focused so much on racing him. I’m more looking forward to having Despres under the same tent and picking his brains about Dakar.”

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Grabham’s 2010 Safari team, CPW KTM, has confirmed they’ll be running the 450SX-F-based engines for the 2011 event, in place of the EXC motors that raced to a podium clean-sweep last year. And after the success of the DOHC KTM powerplants used in the 2011 Dakar, why wouldn’t you? It appears as if Ben Grabham will take on the Honda’s head-on (and avoid the big-bore advantage slurs) by racing a 450, while Matt Fish will be aboard a 505SX-F. These pics of Fish’s bike in the early stages of its development confirm the talk. Note also the cotton-pleated K&N air filters, which are now available through KTM Powerparts catalogue and claimed to allow the 450 to breathe more freely – something it needs in high-speed desert races.

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Speaking of CPW and Dakar, the WA-based desert racing specialists already have a customer on one of their bikes for the January 2012 event, with the possibility of more in the coming months.

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Three-time Dakar winner, Cyril Despres, will make his Oz debut at this year’s Australasian Safari. The Frenchman said he is looking forward to the challenge: “From what I understand, you have some very good riders in Australia who are both fast and good navigators so I think there will be plenty of competition. And of course I have never done the race before, so while it seems similar to other events I have done, experience is always a useful commodity.”

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2010 E3 AORC winner, Geoff Braico, is planning to head Stateside for a stint in the GNCC. “I went over to the US in January and had a ball, which is why I’m going to head back there and go full privateer in the GNCC,” Braico told Transmoto. “It will be good to have a change of pace from Australia. I’ve always wanted to give it a go and try my luck in the US. My sponsors have been really good about the year overseas and are supporting me in my GNCC efforts.”

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Australia’s first fully fledged Dakar race team, GHR Honda, looks like they’ve put the Dakar campaign on hold for a year, and have decided to focus on the domestic race calendar instead. Spearheaded by Smith brothers, Jake and Todd, the GHR Honda team will be racing the Finke and Hattah Desert Races, as well as the Australasian Safari. “According to GHR Team Principal, Glenn Hoffmann, “With the commitment we now have from Honda, we’ll be focusing our energies on the Australian races and put our Dakar plans on hold until 2013. That’ll allow us more time with the bikes’ development and testing, and de-bugging new components. And with the new GPS system used for Dakar (which incorporates a Sentinel), we need to make and test completely new mounts.” GHR is also in the throes of buying a new transporter, and designing new team merchandise to help generate funds for the 2013 Dakar assault.

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Round 5 and 6 of the NSW Enduro Championship was held at Mount Seaview, inland from Port Macquarie on the NSW coast – the venue for Rounds 7 and 8 of the AORC in mid-September. Ballard’s Yamaha teammates, Chris Hollis and Stefan Merriman dominated proceedings on both days, with TM’s Josh Green taking third on the Saturday ahead of Husky’s Glenn Kearney, and Husaberg’s Geoff Braico claiming third on the Sunday.

FMX Stars Todd Potter and Mike Mason are set to compete in X Games 17, which kicks off on July 29 in Los Angeles. Seven-time X Games medallist Todd Potter is set to compete in Best Whip, Step-up and Speed & Styles events, while three-time medallist Mike Mason will be competing in this year’s Speed & Style event. They aren’t the only riders pumped for the event though. Hart and Huntington Team owner, Carey Hart, will make a return to X Games this week to compete in the Speed & Style event. Aussie FMXer, Blake “Bilko” Williams will compete in both the Freestyle and Best Trick events, Jackson Strong is set to thrown down his rad Front-flip in the Best Trick competition, Adam Jones is competing in the Freestyle event, and Jarryd McNeil looking to go one better this year in the Best Whip comp, which was won by Todd Potter last year.

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The aspiring Victorian FMX newcomer, Mark Monea and ‘the Carry On’ – the Front-flip variation that sees the rider and bike rotate both vertically and laterally – will debut this weekend at the largest action sports event in the world; the X Games. Competing in X Games 17’s Best Trick competition, Monea says, “I’m really excited to be competing in X Games for the first time. I feel like this is every kid’s dream and it’s just an amazing opportunity for me.” We look forward to seeing the Aussie compete beside the likes of Cam Sinclair and other top FMX stars on the world stage.

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The 11-time X Games gold medallist, Travis Pastrana, will attempt the impossible this weekend during X Games 17. He’ll compete in Moto X Best Trick on Thursday in Los Angels and contend in the Moto X Freestyle on Friday. Saturday, Pastrana will fly to Indianapolis to qualify and race the NASCAR, then get himself back to LA to race the X Games Rally event on Sunday. Let the Pastranathon begin!

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FMX rider, Mat Rebeaud, has opted to withdraw from the X Games this weekend. Set to compete in the Speed & Style event, Rebeaud has chosen to pull out of the competition to focus on preparing for the next round of the X-Fighters in Poland on August 6. The FMX star is still recuperating from a broken femur sustained earlier in this year while practicing in the foam pit.

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McLeod Accessories has introduced a new tyre brand of off-road hoops called Sedona Tyres. They describe it as a new brand for the price-conscious dirt biker. Who doesn’t like the words cheaper and quality in the same sentence?

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Steve Crombie – the itinerant Aussie best known for his Discovery Channel “Natural Born Traveller” series and two-wheeled escapades around the Americas – swung by the Transmoto office this week. It turns out the first print-run of his fabulous book, Lost on Earth, has sold out. According to Crombie, publisher Pan McMillan’s second-edition print-run is due to hit bookstores at any time now. Or you can buy the thing via Crombie’s website: www.loston.com

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At the 2012 Australian Fox/Shift launch, Aussie distributor Monza Imports announced the new PodMX K300 brace, which will sell for $299.95 per leg. The new brace shares the same hinge and patella protection as the premier K700 model with all parts interchangeable. It will be released in September. That isn’t the only good news either; the K700’s RRP has come down from $599 to $499 per leg.

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Tragically, renowned motorcycling journalist, Ken Wootton, passed away on Tuesday morning while holidaying in Europe. Wootton’s family has released the following statement: “We’re all deeply saddened and shocked by the news of Ken’s death so suddenly while overseas – it’s hard to believe he’s no longer with us. It’s been a horrible day, but we have been completely overwhelmed at the kindness of all who knew Ken. We have been touched by the outpouring of support from those who tell us how Ken assisted them in their careers or about his generosity in the sharing of his knowledge and his passion for motorcycling, and on the many comments about his sense of humour and the warmth of his friendship. We’ve had so many calls from people who knew him; reflecting on what he meant to them and it has been a great help. We’d like to thank the entire motorcycling fraternity for their support, it means a lot during this incredibly difficult and sad time.” Details of Ken’s funeral/memorial will be released once arrangements have been made.

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GoPro helmet cameras has signed a multi-year deal to support the 2011 Red Bull AMA Amateur Nationals Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynns.