Feature

MID WEEK MOTO Our Weekly Look Into All Things Moto

Author: Aaryn Minerds

Posted:

Wednesday, January 8th, 2014

10:39 PM

Welcome to MID WEEK MOTO presented by Fullnoise.com.au, our weekly look into all aspects in the world of dirt bike racing.

From the weekends racing results, to the more interesting and unusual happenings from the week gone by including some of the rumours and findings on social networks, we will take a look and anything and everything dirt bike related.

AMA SUPERCROSS:

<b>MID WEEK MOTO</b> Our Weekly Look Into All Things Moto

There is no doubt that the 2014 edition of A1 got this years Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship off to an exciting start - Credit: Kawasaki Racing

How cool was A1, it seriously lived up to the hype and by now everyone has probably re lived every moment from the night over and over again. I know that I have watched the whole live telecast from ESPN2 three times already.

Lets run through a quick list of the nights highlights without going into detail. IF we were to go into detail we would be hear for the next seven days and miss phoenix this weekend! So in not particular order here is a list of the highlights and some lowlights from A1

- A1 along with the rest of the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross Championship airing live on ESPN or ESPN2 in Australia throughout 2014, yep all 17 races live. ESPN confirmed with us today sending us a list of live viewing times that can be found on our TV Guide on the front page.

- SupercrossLive live stream, yes once again for 2014 we will see every practice and qualifying session via a live online web stream!

- The fact that the riders who finished first and second at A1 in 2013 (Davi Millsaps and Trey Canard) did not line up for A1 in 2014.

- Zach Osbourne and Cole Seely finishing qualifying in the 250SX class on top with identical lap times down to the 1/1000th of a second! Yes nothing separated them all night.

- James Down, those words were heard around the world before the night show even got underway , with both James Stewart and Justin Brayton crashing in the whoops during the Supercross Live Practice and Qualifying stream James as seen above had more troubles with the Whoops in the main event.

- Ken Roczen the first rider in the 57 second bracket in qualifying and only topped by second year 450 rider Justin Barcia

- Jake Moss qualifying 11th fastest in his first ever AMA 450 SX Event before going on to finish 14th after a crash in the Main Event.

- The Fact that the 450SX Heats were ten times more exciting than the 250SX class with plenty more bar banging from the older guys!

- Jake Weimer and Eli Tomac's crash ruling 450 Rookie Tomac (Who also won A1 in the 250SX class last year) out for the night.

- Jake Weimer then crashing in his semi and going to the LCQ to qualify for the 450SX Main Event

- Aussie Dean Ferris qualifying straight through to the 250SX main event from his first ever AMA SX Heat race while feeling under the weather

Most people did not realise that Dean Ferris was sick at A1 and has also had to cut short his training this week in the lead up to Phoenix here is hoping for a healthy Dean soon - Credit S. Cudby

- Malcom Stewarts heat win

- Justin Brayton coming from deep in the field in his heat to pass Ken Roczen on the last lap to qualify directly into the main

- Mike Alessi's Heat Holeshot, it was even bigger than Marvin Musquins Dayton Holeshot in 2013!

- Mike Alessi's break through Heat Win over arch enemy Ryan Villopoto

- Mike Alessi's break down caused by above mentioned events

- Mike Alessi's main event start, History certainly did not repeat!

- Dean Wilson and Zach Osbourne's 250SX Main event battle, certainly some plastics rubbed for a few laps

- Jason Anderson's last lap pass on Cole Seeley for the 250SX win

- Ryan Villopoto's main event crash

- James Stewart's main event crash

Another interesting thing to note regarding Chad Reed, he is rumoured to still be negotiating a Goggle contract for 2014, note the blacked out goggle strap! A first up podium finish should help his cause.

- The guy who was repeatedly called washed up and lucky to be a top ten rider in 2014 on message boards and comments sections on American web sites finishes on the podium on a new bike for 2014, NEVER count Chad Reed out!

- Vince Friese being disqualified for rolling around the track slowly for three laps before making three failed attempts to take- out Will Hahn as Hahn lapped him!

- Rookie full time 450SX rider Ken Roczen winning A1 after qualifying to the main event via a semi final after finishing 5th in his heat!

- Ken Roczen winning A1

- KTM Clean up! 1st-2nd in the 450SX Main event and 1st in the 250SX main event

- Ryan Dungey, Ken Roczen and Cole Seeley all found the podium at A1 for the second year in a row with all three riders also finishing one position better than they did in 2013!

Dungey finished 3rd in the 450 class in 2013 improving one spot in 2014 finishing Second. Ken Roczen finished 2nd in the 250SX class in 2013 so again improved one spot though in the big bike class this year. Cole Seeley made it a hat trick of sorts by finishing second in the 250SX class, improving one position over 2013 where he finished third in the 250SX class!

- Monster Energy Girls nuff said!

2014 DAKAR FIRST THREE DAY's OVERVIEW

Honda has made a dominating start in their return to Dakar winning the first three stages - Credit: Honda racing

- Honda dominating winning the first three stages as the Factory team returns to the event for the first time in 25 years!

- Joan Barreda Winning stage one and three to hold a 13 minute lead

- Cyril Despres and Mark Coma started to make their push forward on day three A stage that proved to be brutal for other race favourites

- 196 motorcycles started stage one, 12 hours after Barreda finished stage three only 117 other bikes had checked in!

- Aussie Ben Grabham was well placed after stage 2 in 9th place, however lost two hours on stage three after a navigational error along with a handful of other front runners

- Stage two winner Sam Sunderland and Ruben Faria who finished 3rd in the 2013 Dakar raced were two riders who joined Grabham on his miss adventure, Sunderland also lost of 2 hours, while the mistake eventually ruled Faria out of the race.

- Three more Aussies made it through the tough stage three with Shane Diener, Allen Robertson and Troy O'Connor all making it home.

- Two Aussies in Mark Davidson and Clayton Jacobsen where to rides that still had not crossed the line to finish stage three, we will check their progress tomorrow.

- Keep up to date each and every day with the 2014 Dakar Rally with a daily update on fullnoise.com.au

NATIONAL INTEREST

Kevin Williams has given us some more info on the North / South Regional championships that will certainly benefit privateers in 2014, read more about it tomorrow - Credit: Aaryn Minerds

- WEM will host a two day Arena Cross along side the Australian round of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island, An Interview with Kevin Williams will be online tomorrow with more details on the Event.

- WEM have also released more details regarding the new NORTH and SOUTH Regional championships to be run as part of the 2014 Monster Energy MX Nationals, we will have those details in the above mentioned interview.

- Jake Moss has posted a Video of himself riding a 2014 Kawasaki KX450F increasing speculation that he will join Adam Monea in the MX Nationals on the Factory Kawasaki team in 2014

- The once super popular Qld Sunshine State Series was on the brink of collapse heading into 2014. Fortunately it has been saved and one of the many changes for the series this year will see Robbie Marshall come on board as the series Coordinator, read more about it HERE

- Honda Racing team owner Yarrive Konsky has eluded to a naming rights sponsorship with Penrtie Oils for 2014 via Facebook and posted a concept look for the teams 2014 race bikes. Looks as though the line up will be Josh Cachia MX2, and Cody Cooper MX1.

Kirk Gibbs having fun in the sand, give him a follow on Facebook and Twitter

- Both Motorex KTM rider for 2014 are keeping the social pages ticking over with Kirk Gibbs posting a host of cool photos and videos on his Instagram account hitting some sand dunes near his home in Mt Gambier, while Ford Dale has been just as busy posting photos of his pre season ventures.

- 2014 MX2 Motocross runner up Kale Makeham is back riding and getting ready for the 2014 season.

- Racesafe continue to be the medical care of choice for two wheeled motorsport in Australian and rightfully so with Simon and his crew being enlisted to look after the riders at the upcoming Troy Bayliss Classic

- The Australian Speedway Championship round 2 is being ran tonight, we will post results tomorrow as soon as we can get hold fo them.

INDUSTRY

- Fourohfour have released the Matthew Phillips section from their RIDE film on Youtube, check it out above.

- 6D Helmets have joined forced with 10 time World Champion Stefen Everts, read more about it by CLICKING HERE

- Suzuki Australia are becoming more and more active on the Social Scene, give them a follow on Instagram and Facebook by simply searching Suzuki Australia.

- Fox unveiled a host of limited edition riding gear and products at A1, as worn by race winner Ken Roczen and runner up Ryan Dungey, the Boots are now available in Australia, hit up your local FOX dealer to get your feet into a pair!

- We here at Fullnoise have a new weekly Feature underway that has already proven to be pretty popular! Check out our new Tuesday feature called Ten Year Turn-Back as we take a look as what was happening in the sport ten years ago each and every week. Click Here for Yesterday's Feature

THAT'S A WRAP:

Well that is a wrap for Week 1 of the 2014 Race Season a full on week of exciting SX action and news!

For more information for any of the posts above simply head the Fullnoise.com.au website or check out our social pages on FACEBOOK, TWITTER and also on INSTAGRAM at Fullnoise_.

Make sure you catch our "DIRTY WEEKEND AHEAD" weekly feature on Friday to find out what racing is on this weekend!, then head back Monday for our Monday Motoboard first thing Monday morning for all the racing results from over the weekend.