I will start this week by sending out a huge congratulations to the new Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team manager, Harry Norton.
If ever there was a story of dreaming big and making those dreams come true, Harry’s story is 100% that and shows that dedication and hard work can lead to amazing opportunities.
I first came to know Harry through Kessners Motorcycles here in Adelaide, more so via their race team, which he played a huge part in, especially after a few significant injuries from racing left him on the sidelines and looking for another avenue to play a part in the sport he loves.
I was lucky enough to get to know Harry after shooting the Kessners Motorcycles team’s pre-season shoot for a couple of years, along with heading into the local shop to buy parts when my son was riding 50s. He was always smiling, always offering to help out in any way and had a true passion for dirt bikes.
Harry worked his way from being an apprentice at the local shop to leading the workshop, and had the opportunity to help out KTM Australia racing team at a few of the South Australian rounds of both the AORC and MX Nationals, before taking up an opportunity to work for KTM Australia full-time.
More hard work led to a full-time role working for the KTM Factory team in Europe, including playing a massive role in Tom Vialle’s MX2 titles as his mechanic.
In 2023, Norton took over the role of Technical Co-Ordinator, and with Tony Cairoli moving on to Ducati this year, Norton has taken the next big step to lead the team into 2024.
Well done mate, we look forward to seeing things continue to progress this year.
ANOTHER AUSSIE ON TOP
The third week of 2024 certainly threw up some wild and crazy racing around the world, with Aussies competing all over the globe and for the second time this year, an Australian rider stood on top of the podium in the U.S of A
Who do you ask? Well, the picture above probably gives it away, but it was none other than Victorian Mason Semmens.
Semmens won the Pro 2 class in the opening round of the 2024 NGP Series (AMA National Grand Prix Championship), taking the win by just under 30 seconds and finishing 12th outright in the overall classification.
It was a great start to the year for the FMF RPM KTM Racing Team rider, who will not only contest the NPG Series but also the WORCS racing series in the United States and will throw in a mid-year visit down under to contest the 2024 Penrith Hattah Desert race.
Semmens was not the only Australian rider in action at the NGP Series opener, with fellow Victorian Jack Simpson contesting the Pro class, finishing 10th in class and 10th outright.
, the 250F class, taking the win by
MUD AND GUTS
While Chase Sexton mastered the Mud in San Fransisco and Eli Tomac quickly got his season back on track, it was a matter of toughing out and taking what they could for the Aussie contingent at the second round of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship.
Jett Lawrence, like most, had his troubles in the main event, going a lap down, finishing in 9th position, just ahead of his brother Hunter in 10th. Due to the up-and-down mixed results from all the top championship contenders at the opening two rounds, Jett was able only to lose one spot in the standings, moving to second spot behind Sexton, just seven points down.
For Joel Wightman, it was a bittersweet experience; while able to make the night show, it was not really what you would call a fun event, especially for a privateer and what the mud does to a bike. However, Wightman put a considerable effort to finish his heat race in 17th position, then rounding out his night with 9th in the LCQ.
For Gerran Stapleton, the night started well, heading out in the first qualifying session and getting in an excellent early lap that saw him finish 8th in the qualifying standings. He then backed that up with a 9th place complete in his heat to qualify straight into the night’s 250 main event, where he finished 16th.
THE DAKAR and GERMAN DUO’s
In A big week/end for Australians around the globe, Both Red Bull Factory KTM’s Toby Price and Red Bull GasGas’s Daniel Sanders continued their assault on this year’s Dakar Rally. Both riders have played it smart and sit nicely inside the top ten heading into the final few days of this year’s big race.
Two more Aussies had some fun on the world stage with Matt Moss and Dylan Wills heading to Germany for the Dortmund Supercross.
It was a tough weekend for both riders. Wills found his feet racing on the unique surface that the German event is known for. Meanwhile, Moss returned for his first race after suffering extensive injuries at the closing rounds of the Australian Supercross Championship.
While the event was a bit of a struggle for the two Aussies, it was a different story for the French riders at the event as they dominated the podium, with Greg Aranda taking the overall victory for the weekend ahead of Cedric Soubeyras and Adrien Escoffier.
THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN SAN FRANS WEATHER WERE MY TIPPING SKILLS!
If you think San Fransisco’s weather was terrible, the teams I selected in the fullnoise.com.au league on the VitalMX Supercross Fantasy competition made it look like a sunny day out. Stadium.
Actually, my 450 team was pretty decent, and like my 250 team was looking solid after the heats, with the Lawrence brothers, Webb and McElrath all looking good. And while McElrath certainly paid off, the remaining three had opportunities to score me many more points but came into a little bad luck.
My 250 team, however, was a disaster, with Max Miller not making the main, and was then shortly followed by Jo Shimoda and Maximus Vohland’s bikes coming to a grinding halt early in the main event. Mitchel Oldenburg salvaged me a few points, but with just 13 points coming from my 250 lineup, I quickly slid down the overall standings in the league.
In the fullnoise.com.au League, it is Matho556 who holds on to a narrow 1-point lead from Craig93, with Fezz just 10 points back in 3rd.
If you want to jump into the fullnoise.com.au League, we will allow people to join for another two weeks using the password FULLNOISE (Make sure you enter it all in CAPITAL LETTERS). After that, we will change the password, and you will have to wait to the outdoors to join the fun.
NOTHING TO REPORT FROM OUR END
On our personal riding and racing journey for 2024, there is little that went on this week. With Jayden trying to get over a cold and temps in the mid-30s in South Australia over the weekend, no riding was done, and no photo was taken.
It was a weekend of couch surfing, watching way too many videos on YouTube, main moto videos mixed in with way too many. Video’s, the joys of hanging out with a 12-year-old kid, I guess!
Though watching a lot of these videos had given me a few ideas for this year, and after watching Supercross on Sunday arvo, the rest of the evening was spent online checking out some equipment that could be fun to play with at the races this year and give the kid a chance to build some edit skills on the long trips home. But we will see how that goes.
With temperatures expected to be in the high 30s this weekend, we might sneak out to Gillman for a quick ride Sunday morning well the kid will ride and ‘ll probably swing off the camera for a bit before returning home to catch all the Supercross action and see how the 2024 Dakar concludes.
