Moto News for Nov 4, 2014 by Darren Smart
Australasian News
Ok, let’s start this week with the news that the MXGP organisers Youthstream (see ‘dumb-arse’ in the slang dictionary) are eyeing a return to Australia at the Broadford circuit for the 2016 World Motocross Championship season and beyond.
For the newbies in the sport – we have ‘been there done that’ and here are the facts……Broadford sucks… You can throw as much money at that place as you like but the race track is built on shit soil, if it rains it becomes a one-line bog hole and if it doesn’t rain it becomes a dust bowl.
I make these statements from experience. I raced Broadford several times back in the 1980s before racing in the support class at the World Motocross Championships round held at Broadford in 2000 and it was always a crap meeting with the track going from bad to worse throughout the day (even if it didn’t rain) and then I went back there as a team manager just a few years ago and there was no improvement in the place.
Unless things have changed dramatically over the last couple of seasons my recollection of the place is that the teams and the riders hate the track, the facilities and the location and the spectators are less than impressed with the location so WHY is anyone even remotely pushing that barrow for a World Championship round with Youthstream?
MA needs to take control of this and start ‘guiding’ Youthstream towards a more favourable solution/venue. Queensland’s Coolum track, facility, infrastructure and location would be the perfect solution and it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to get financial support from the local government for the event….they eat this stuff up all of the time and their budgets are huge. Even Appin would be a better option than bloody Broadford!
The Australian Race Calendar was officially released last Friday and we now have the dates and venues for three of our biggest series for the 2015 season.
2015 Australian MX Nationals Calendar:
- Rd1 – 29 March – Horsham, VIC
- Rd2 – 12 April – Appin, NSW
- Rd3 – 26 April – Broadford, VIC
- Rd4 – 17 May – Murray Bridge, SA
- Rd5- 31 May – Coolum, QLD
- Rd6 – 5 July – Raymond Terrace, NSW
- Rd7 – 19 July – Shepparton, VIC
- Rd8 – 2 August – Nowra, NSW
- Rd9 – 23 August – Toowoomba, QLD
- Rd10 – 30 August – Coolum, QLD
2015 Provisional Australian Supercross Championship Calendar:
- Round 1: October 3rd – Wayville, SA
- Round 2: October 10th – Bathurst, NSW
- Round 3: October 17th – Phillip Island, Vic
- Round 4: October 18th – Phillip Island, Vic
- Round 5: October 24th – TBA, NSW
- Round 6: November 14th – TBA, QLD
Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship 2015 Calendar
- Rounds 1 & 2 – March 21-22, Kilkivan, QLD: Sprint, Sprint
- Rounds 3 & 4 – April 18-19, Hedley, VIC: Cross Country*, Sprint
- Rounds 5 & 6 – May 23-24, Karoonda, SA: Cross Country*, Sprint
- Rounds 7 & 8 – June 20-21, QLD Ride Park, QLD: Enduro, Enduro
- Rounds 9 & 10 – July 25-26, Kyogle, NSW: Cross Country*, Sprint
- Rounds 11 & 12 – August 15-16, Monkerai, NSW: Cross Country*, Sprint
*Subject to weather conditions
Penrite Honda will now only field two riders in the MX1 class for the 2015 MX Nationals and 2015 ASX so we now have to see if Honda can allocate some more funds into another MX2 team like the Wilson Jet Pilot team.
With the flying Kiwi Kayne Lamont moving over to Yamaha there is a strong rumour around that the CMR KTM team will bring the equally fast Aussie Caleb Ward into the team for the 2015 New Zealand Motocross Championships. Ward is apparently about to head over to NZ to test the CMR fettled 2015 KTM250SX and will potentially join Jay Wilson (Yamaha) and Jacob Wright (Yamaha) as another Aussie booked to ride the series.
NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Moss will not compete in the final round of the 2014 Penrite Australian Supercross Championship after a shoulder injury incurred before the series started was aggravated during the week.
This weekend is the final round of the Penrite Australian Supercross Championship being held at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and it is going to be a dead-set cracker of a night. This venue has hosted a heap of supercross event over the years and it isn’t a dinky little arena, you can get a good sized track in there so you will get to see a great layout with plenty of passing opportunities…be there or be square!!!!!!!!!!! Go to http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=SUPERCRO14 to get your tickets.
Here is the promo for the final ASX round
[youtube id=”zW8ZRU52-iY” width=”853″ height=”480″]
Euro News
Two-time MX2 World Champion Jeffrey Herlings has signed a new contract with the Red Bull KTM team that runs through the end of the 2017 season. Herlings actually started his GP career with KTM as a 15-year-old in 2009.
Ok, we have known this for a while but it is now official that Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing has signed Todd Waters, Max Nagl and Nathan Watson (the Brit will only do the Euro rounds) to contest the 2015 World Motocross Championships in the MXGP class while Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing still have 21-year-old Russian Aleksandr Tonkov in the MX2 class with the addition of Dean Ferris to contest the MXGP class on a TC350.
Ricci Racing will also receive official Husqvarna support for 2015 with riders Rui Goncalves (MXGP), Christopher Valente (MX2), Michael Ivanov (MX2) and Filippo Zonta (EMX125).
How about Team Bud Racing Kawasaki Monster? They have just released the list of riders that they are supporting throughout the 2015 season and it is hard to fathom how they co-ordinate so many riders over so many different series but they do it each year and good on em. Here is the list:
Xavier Boog: Enduropale du Touquet / MX Elite 450 / SX 450 / Selected Grand Prix
Maxime Desprey: European 250 Championship / MX Elite 250 / SX 250 / Selected Grand Prix
Nicolas Dercourt: European 250 Championship / MX Elite 250 / SX 250 / Selected Grand Prix
Brian Moreau: European, FIM Junior and French 85cc Championships / Monster Cup Las Vegas 85
David Braceras: European, FIM Junior and Spanish 85cc Championships
Meghan Rutledge: Women’s World Championship
And to top that off Bud Racing is supporting Christophe Pourcel and Josh Hill for Bercy and Geneva and Genova Supercross races.
Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM UK has re-signed Shaun Simpson to compete in the MXGP class while Ben Watson and Petar Petrov will contest the MX2 class in the 2015 World Motocross Championships.
So, now that we have had most of the teams announced here is a list of the riders lining up to contest the MXGP class in 2015.
- – Filip Bengtsson – Honda Racing Team
- – Evgeny Bobryshev – Honda HRC
- – Jose Antonio Butron – Marchetti KTM Racing
- – Antonio Cairoli – Red Bull KTM
- – Christophe Charlier – Honda Racing Team
- – Glenn Coldenhoff – Suzuki
- – Clement Desalle – Suzuki
- – Ken De Dycker – Red Bull KTM
- – Romain Febvre – Yamaha
- – Dean Ferris – Husqvarna Support
- – Rui Goncalves – Husqvarna Support
- – Alessandro Lupino – Assomotor/Honda Red Moto
- – Max Nagl – Red Bull Husqvarna
- – Gautier Paulin – Honda HCR
- – Shaun Simpson – Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM UK
- – Tyla Rattray – Monster Energy Kawasaki
- – Tommy Searle – Red Bull KTM
- – Kevin Strijbos – Suzuki
- – Ryan Villopoto – Monster Energy Kawasaki
- – Todd Waters – Red Bull Husqvarna Factory
- – Nathan Watson (Euro Rounds Only) – Red Bull Husqvarna Factory
- – Jeremy Van Horebeek – Yamaha Factory
At the time of writing here are the confirmed MX2 Riders for 2015:
- – Max Anstie – Bikeit Cosworth Yamaha
- – Vsevolod Brylyakov – JTech Honda
- – Dylan Ferrandis – Kawasaki
- – Tim Gajser – Honda Gariboldi Racing Team
- – Jens Getteman – JTech Honda
- – Jeffrey Herlings – Red Bull KTM
- – Michael Ivanov – Ricci Racing Husqvarna
- – Pauls Jonass – Red Bull KTM
- – Petar Petrov – Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM UK
- – Jordi Tixier – CLS Kawasaki
- – Aleksandr Tonkov – Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing
- – Christopher Valente – Ricci Racing Husqvarna
- – Ben Watson – Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM UK
- – Jorge Zaragoza – Honda Gariboldi Racing Team
The British based 2015 Garmin Arenacross Championship dates have been released so here they are:
2015 Garmin Arenacross Dates and Locations:
- RND 1 – PHONES 4U ARENA, MANCHESTER, SAT 3RD JAN
- RND 2 – ODYSSEY ARENA, BELFAST, FRI 16TH JAN
- RND 3 – ODYSSEY ARENA, BELFAST, SAT 17TH JAN
- RND 4 – LG ARENA, BIRMINGHAM, SAT 24TH JAN
- RND 5 – METRO RADIO ARENA, NEWCASTLE, SUN 1ST FEB
- RND 6 – THE SSE HYDRO, GLASGOW, SAT 7TH FEB
- RND 7 – MOTORPOINT ARENA, SHEFFIELD, SAT 14TH FEB
- RND 8 – SSE ARENA, WEMBLEY, LONDON, SAT 28TH FEB
Now that the South African Supercross is done and dusted many of the riders will keep on travelling to the three big Supercross events held in Europe each year and they are the Bercy Supercross in France(November 15/16), the Genova Supercross in Italy (November 22/23) and the Geneva Supercross in Switzerland (December 6/7).
This year it looks like Americans Eli Tomac, Jake Weimer, Trey Canard, Cooper Webb, Wil Hahn, Justin Barcia, Justin Brayton, Malcolm Stewart, Adam Cianciarulo, Josh Hansen, Jimmy Decotis, Andrew Short and Josh Hill will take on Euro guns Gautier Paulin, Marvin Musquin, Valentin Teillet, Christophe Pourcel, Arnoud Tonus, Loic Rombaut, Jordi Tixier, Cédric Soubeyras, Fabien Izoird and Cyrille Coulon at one stage or another over these three events.
It’s a pity none of our boys head over for these events anymore.
American News
American Yamaha rider Jordan Ashburn has won the final round of the Japan National Cross Country (JNCC) held at the Jigatake Ski Resort in Omachi City, Nagano last Sunday. For the record, Yamaha’s Manabu Watanabe won his first-ever JNCC Championship.
51FIFTY Energy Drink has signed Austin Politelli to compete in the 250SX West Region during the 2015 AMA Supercross Championships on the 2015 Yamaha YZ250F.
Phil Nicoletti is returning to the JGR Yamaha team for all 12 rounds of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship as well as ‘fill-in’ rides if Weston Peick or Justin Barcia can’t make it to an AMA Supercross round. Phil spent time in Australia a few years ago racing for Troy Carroll’s Kawasaki team and is a top guy.
Team 3BR is a small family run team and they have signed Tevin Tapia, Nick Schmidt and Jake Scarborough for the 2015 AMA Motocross and Supercross series on 450cc machinery.
Moto News for the weekend of November 1/2
- – 2014 World Veteran Motocross Championships at Glen Helen, California
- – South African Supercross in Pretoria
- – Atacama Rally in Chile
2014 World Veteran Motocross Championships – Glenn Helen, California
When 500 plus old dudes turn up from all over the world to Glenn Helen Raceway, California on the first week on November each year you know that the World Vet Motocross Championships are on and this year we got to see living legend Doug Dubach win his 24th World Vet Championship title while former AMA Pro racers and Euro champions went head to head in multiple classes all weekend.
A full report of every class would take a year so here are the results from the main classes.
- Over-40 Pro Top Ten: 1. Doug Dubach (Yam) – 1-1. 2. Julien Cerny (Kaw) – 3-2. 3. Gordon Ward (Hon) – 2-3. 4. Brian Wheeler (Kaw) – 4-6. 5. Todd Mitchell (Suz) – 6-5. 6. Stale Bjordal (Hon) – 5-7. 7. Brandon Milstead (Suz) – 7-8. 8. Kim Olsen (Suz) – 9-10. 9. Phil Mercer (KTM) – 11-9. 10. Shawn Wynne (Hon) – 8-13.
- Over-30 Pro Top Ten: 1. Travis Preston (Yam). 2. Mike Sleeter (KTM). 3. Ryan Morais (KTM). 4. Tonni Anderson (KTM). 5. Brian Jorgensen (Hon). 6. Doug Dubach (Yam). 7. Gordon Ward (Hon). 8. Dennis Stapleton (KTM). 9. Kris Keefer (Yam). 10. Beau Baron (Hon)
- 35+ Expert Top Three: 1. Jeff Willoh. 2. Johnny Edwards. 3. John Kirkcaldie.
- 50+ Expert Top Three: 1. Doug Dubach. 2. Drey Dirks. 3. Willy Simons Sr.
- 55+ Expert Top Three: 1. Pete Murray. 2. Isao Ida. 3. Chuck Sun.
- 60+ Expert Top Three: 1. Brent Wallingsford. 2. Rick Johnson. 3. Jim Latendresse.
- 70+ Expert Top Three: 1. Gary Chase Sr. 2. Alan Olsen. 3. Bart Kellogg.
South African Supercross – Pretoria – South Africa
Kawasaki’s Josh Hill has won the 2014 South African Monster Energy Supercross held in Pretoria and walked away with the $20,000 first prize but the big surprise was the performance of little known Yank Cody Gilmore who came in 2nd place ahead of local hero Michael Docherty who in turn finished ahead of American Jake Weimer who has convinced everyone why he lost his factory Kawasaki ride with this performance.
Main Event Top Ten: 1. Josh Hill. 2. Cody Gilmore. 3. Michael Docherty. 4. Jake Weimer. 5. Mickael Musquin. 6. Jack Brunell. 7. Adam Chatfield. 8. Neville Bradshaw. 9. Kerim Fitz-Gerald. 10. Matthew Malan.
Atacama Rally – Chile
Local KTM riders Claudio Rodriguez and Pablo Quintanilla have taken the top two positions in the Atacama Rally held in Chile last week with KTM factory rider Marc Coma completing the podium after officials were forced to cut the distance of the planned final stage because of fog.
Coma, who was second in the overall standings after Friday’s Stage Four looked set to take the victory after his main rival Joan Barreda decided not to start in the final leg. But the shortened final stage also threw up problems in the road book description and Coma got into navigational difficulties in the final part of the ride.
“I got into difficulties in the last 20 km and I missed a waypoint,” Coma said. “But I am still happy with the outcome of the week. We do not have many chances to ride in the Atacama ahead of the Dakar and so we took this opportunity. We started slow in the first stage but as the week went on I started to push. By today I was feeling very good on the bike and I had a good rhythm.”
Stage Five Results: 1, Claudio Rodríguez, CHI, KTM at 1:52.10.2, Marc Coma ESP, KTM, at 7.38. 3, Cristian Naser CHI at 9.42. 4, Pablo Quintanilla, CHI, KTM, T 10.22. 5, Juan Alvatra, BOL, at 12.27. 6, Daniel Gouet, CHI, 15.53. 7, Jordano Sepulveda, CHI at 15.53. 8, Enrique Guzmán at 36.01. DNS: Joan Barreda, ESP, Honda.
Final Standings – Top Five: 1, Rodriguez 18:34.29. 2, Quintanilla at 3.49. 3, Coma, at 10.25. 4, Gouet, at 2:02.19. 5, Naser at 2:25.16.
Moto News for the weekend of November 8/9
- – Rounds 5 of the Australian Supercross Championship in the Brisbane Entertainment Centre
- – Round 3 and 4 of the 2014 Canadian Arenacross Championships at Cloverdale, BC
- – 2014 North Brisbane Cup at Mick Doohan Park, Nudgee
- – 2014 ISDE in Argentina
