Greg Moss (father of Jake and Matt, and runs the Moss Institute Coaching Clinics) talks about his visit to the MX Nationals.
The first Motocross meeting that I remember attending was 1967 and there was a long procession of vehicles that got longer as we got closer to the event, FJ Holdens and what looked like army motorbikes crossed with road bikes.
On arrival, I realised that a lot of these bikes that joined the procession were racing as well in what was called scrambles. Five years later the bikes were on the change, with Greeves, Bultaco, Maico and Montessa coming out with much lighter bikes with suspension and the word Motocross was being heard around the world, along with scrambles.
Then along came the Japanese machines and off I went to watch my Dad racing in a National Motocross event at Oran Park with the legendary Roger DeCoster and a few other European riders. A few more years of Dad racing, and me getting the occasional entry in the women’s race on his postie bike, before I was off to boarding school with a building Motocross bug inside me.
Well then it’s 1979 with my schooling finished and I’m three weeks wages into my apprenticeship and have just bought a 1973 RM in pieces. As soon as the project was finished I was on the starting lines, proud as punch of my old RM. After four years of racing and some reasonable SX and MXÂ results I was proud as punch when I was given a late model RM250 to race. Next minute, the girlfriends pregnant and Gus Lui motorcycles are taking the bike back and giving me a peewee 50 for the baby, my focus changes to coaching and its been MX every day till now.
With the amount of coaching schools I have to do now in every state, and overseas in NZ and now the USA, it’s pretty rare for me to get to the MX Nationals. So online I go to see how many of my junior Moss Institute riders are amongst the national MX entries.
The riders who grew up on my team were Matt and Jake Moss, Meghan Ruttledge, Luke Styke, Luke Clout, Hayden Melross, Kale Makeham, Hunter Lawrence and Mitch Evens. So after investigation Meghan Rutledge and Luke Styke are in Italy for the World FIM GP and Hunter Lawrence had not entered. So now I was looking for my boys and Hayden in the MX1 class, Luke Clout and Kale Makeham in the MX2 and Mitch Evens in the junior 125.
Things couldn’t have turned out better. Matt 1st, Jake 2nd and rookie MX1 rider Hayden Mellross in the top 10 every moto. On to the MX2 and Luke Clout wins the MX2 from Kale Makeham. Then my biggest thrill after just returning from coaching him in Cairns, Mitch Evans comes out and has big wins in the junior 125 moto’s.
Looks like this MX bug is going to hang around a lot longer.
