Innehållsförteckning för Issue 250 från Dirt Action

Sherco Australia has upped the ante for 2023, announcing a four-rider off-road team line-up to contest the AORC, Australian Hard Enduro Championship, Australian SuperEnduro Championship and selected stand-alone hard enduro events like the Wildwood Rock Extreme Enduro. Last year’s E3-class AORC runner up Jonte Reynders is back for his fifth season with Team Motul Pirelli Sherco and will be contesting the E2 class aboard the 300 SEF Factory four-stroke. After dominating the local hard enduro scene last year, Sherco has kept reigning Aussie champ Anthony Solar onboard to defend his number-one plate on his 300 SE Factory twostroke, while his toughest challenger this year is likely to be his teammate Chris Perry, who equalled Solar in AHEC points in 2022 but was edged out of the title by a podium…

MOTOR MOUTH NEWS Beta Australia has taken the wraps off the 2023 model RX 300 motocrosser. Originally developed for the USA market, the MY22 Beta RX 300 proved to be a hit in Australia and is back again for 2023. The most notable improvement for this model is a new KYB 45mm body shock with adjustable rebound and high/low-speed compression damping. Kayaba has developed the shock with Beta engineers to enhance the rideability of the bike under all conditions. Specific features of the 2023 model include » A higher-performance, longer-stroke 300 two-stroke motor compared to the RR and RR Racing models. » Keihin PWK38 carburetor. » 19-inch rear wheel. » Michelin Starcross tyres. » Extra-wide billet aluminium footpegs with stainless-steel gripper pins. » New narrower shrouds to give the rider…

While Alex Larwood and Joyce Cosford are gearing up to go hard in the MX2 division of the 2023 Australian Pro MX Championships for the new-look Yamalube Yamaha MX team, third team member Charli Cannon might just be the busiest rider on the squad this year. Cannon will be dividing her time between contesting the Pro MX Championship here in Australia for the Yamalube Yamaha team, as well as contesting the World Motocross Championships for the JK Racing Yamaha team. Cannon came to prominence in Australia last year by dominating the Women’s division of Pro MX, but now with an opportunity at world level, she has her goals and sights set high as she embarks on a challenging yet rewarding racing season. “I’m very fortunate to be able to do…

DA 250 ISSUES I’ve sat here for a while now wondering how to start this and where to take it. I rarely reminisce on my time at DIRT ACTION and in fact this may be the first time since I left the magazine (in 2020) that I’ve taken a moment to think back on it in any depth. That’s not because my time at DA left me bereft of great memories. There are so many stories I can recount that bring a wide smile to my face. And so, to help celebrate the 250th issue, I’ve been asked by Clubby to finally take a look back over my time as the longest-serving editor. THE ONLY WAY IS UP I started at the bottom. My father, Barry, had started the magazine…

INTERVIEW: KYRON BACON ‘S izzling Bacon proves he’s no flash in the pan.’ ‘Winning streak allows Kyron to bring home the Bacon.’ And so on. Get used to the comical Bacon-related headlines because 20-year-old enduro phenom Kyron is the real deal and is unlikely to slow down any time soon. But how did the 2022 AORC and A4DE winner get so fast, so quickly? His secret lies in his Tasmanian roots. When you grow up in a dirtbike-mad family, the opportunity to be the fastest enduro rider in Australia is there. But lots of kids have that same opportunity. Started riding aged three: check. A competitive dad who used to race enduro: check. But how many aspiring enduro legends have a wide range of incredible, technical, muddy, slippery, rootinfested trails within…

01 Designed in Australia for Australian conditions and constructed from rugged 1000D TPUtough material with RF welded heat seams. 02 Strong internal PE board helps the saddlebags hold their shape when empty. 03 Multiple strapping and mounting options that can be combined with a seat/rack mounted duffle bag for a complete soft luggage solution 04 Supplied with 250D rip-stop inner dry bags with air purge valves for easy and convenient packing. 05 Choice of 20- or 30-litre cubic capacity saddlebags available. GET FULL PRODUCT INFO AT www.adventuremoto.com.au…

Show us a dirtbike rider who doesn’t like tools and we’ll show you a dirtbike rider who is surely missing out on one of the great joys of life! Seriously, who doesn’t love collecting tools? We sure as heck do. Of course, collecting your tool set can take time, or you can let a bloke like Aussie off-road legend Geoff Ballard do all the hard work for you. Which is why we’re stoked on this Ballard’s complete tool bag with tools. GB’s done his homework and just as the name says, this handy tool bag comes complete with the tools you’ll need for working on your sled. Check out the list of goodies that are included: » Tool bag with 40 pockets. » Ratchet spanner set (8,10,12 and 13mm). »…

MOTO MANUAL MX BIKE BUILD The business of racing dirtbikes can be full of ups and downs — just ask Nathan Crawford. The former junior champion has been a mainstay of the Aussie pro MX scene for years as well as making it to the MX GPs over in Europe, but he has all too often seen his championship hopes dashed by injury or misfortune. Last year he lined up for the factory-backed Australian KTM Racing Team, but a busted leg soon put paid to a huge chunk of the season. However, when he did take to the grid, the Queenslander came out firing and won the final two MX2 rounds of the Pro MX championship. He then carried that form into strong performances in the Australian Supercross Championship to…

MOTO MANUAL MX RIDING TIPS Unless you’re riding on the most sunbaked, hard-packed track this side of Southern California, ruts are going to be an obstacle you must know how to conquer. They can be shallow, they can be deep, they can be short or they can be long — but whatever type they are, if you don’t get them right, they can take a wheel out from under you in no time and send you skewing off the track, or worse yet, tuck your front end and send you over the hangers. So let’s break it down and get you working on the most important points you need to help you conquer ruts lap after lap. 1. VISION Once you have both wheels in the entry of the rut,…

Victorian rider Andy Wilksch will lead KTM’s charge in this year’s AORC and A4DE, lining up in the E2 category aboard a KTM 450 EXC-F. Wilksch, who captured the AORC E3 championship last year, is pumped for the season ahead after starting his enduro racing career on a KTM. “It’s cool to go full circle and have the best equipment to go racing this year,” says Wilksch. “The goal for 2023 is to go for the win and we should be in a great position to achieve that with the 450 EXC-F. I learned a lot from last year and look forward to building with KTM to chase that goal.” KTM Australia will also be supporting last year’s AORC EJ champion Riley McGillivray, who will be stepping up to the…

While Jesse Dobson is back for his third season with the Serco Yamaha race team, there’s some new blood in the Brisbane-based squad this year following the arrival of Rhys Budd, who is coming in hot after finishing second in last year’s MX2 category of the Pro MX Nationals. With over 20 years in the game, Serco Yamaha team boss Gavin Eales is excited to go racing in 2023 and looks forward to a great season from his troops. “Rhys has come through the Yamaha program and already had a good friendship with Jesse and the team,” said Eales. “Both riders have a huge work ethic and are determined to make 2023 their best season yet and with a strong preseason behind us, we’re in good shape and ready to…

MOTOR MOUTH NEWS T he distributor-backed Empire Kawasaki race team is gearing up for the 2023 season. Four riders will be lining up in the Team Green squad to contest the Australian Pro MX and Supercross Championships, and other major events They are: » Haruku Yokoyama and Jai Constantinou in MX2. » Taylah McCutcheon in MXW. » Cambell Williams in MX3. However, in an early season blow to the team, Constantinou went out with a broken leg and was replaced at short notice by Kiwi champ Cody Cooper. Meanwhile, Will Price will be lining up for the Empire Motorsport team in the AORC and off-road events. Good luck to all the Team Green chargers!…

MOTOR MOUTH NEWS I t’s all going on the adventure bike market this year with a feast of new bikes coming down the line in 2023. KTM’s new 890 Adventure R with updated rally-inspired bodywork, latest 1290 Super Adventure R, and 390 Adventure with spoked wheels have already hit showroom floors, while dealers for Chinese brand CFMOTO have also seen stocks of the new 800 MT Explore edition arrive. The 800 MT Explore comes loaded up with a host of new electronics including traction control, switchable rear ABS, larger TFT screen and rear radar. Suzuki’s new V-Strom 250 has also landed in Oz, but that’s just the beginning of a big range of updates to the legendary V-Strom line-up. The Suzuki range this year includes muchupdated V-Strom 1050 and 1050…

I t’s diminutive. It’s unimposing. And it hardly takes your breath away in this modern-day age of high-tech dirt slayers that bristle with EFI, TPI, ABS, power modes, traction control and lean-angle sensors. But truth be told, this white-tanked piece of precious metal is arguably the most important trailbike to ever roll down a motorcycle production line It’s the Yamaha DT1 and when it went on sale in early 1968, it absolutely rewrote the rulebook by which all dirtbikes would be judged and singlehandedly created the dual-purpose trail/enduro category that to this day continues to be in high demand with off-road riders right around the world Put simply, the DT1 was the right bike at the right time and is renowned as THE landmark dirtbike of the past 55 years.…

Outside of the Bacon family and Matt Phillips, the person who knows Kyron Bacon best and understands just how much potential the young gun has is ShopYamaha race team manager AJ Roberts. We sat down with AJ to get his take on Kyron. What is Kyron’s major advantage as a racer? It’s his ability to read terrain, which means he can ride fast right away on a track he hasn’t ridden before. For example, say a rider has the track record at his local circuit. That quick time may have taken months to achieve, but Kyron will typically snatch the record within three laps. He doesn’t waste any time getting up to speed. Is this a natural skill, or have you and the team helped him hone it? To be…

In a market where it can sometimes be tough to work out the differences between one brand of bike and the next, Sherco has cemented its place as a unique competitor with some real points of difference in the enduro sector. The French brand is a serious player on the local off-road scene and as soon as the 2023 model Shercos touched down in Oz, it was no surprise the Aussie importer, Mojo Motorcycles, gathered the local moto media at the Broadford Motorcycle Complex in Victoria to put the new bikes through their paces. THE BIKES The Sherco enduro range consists of seven different models. There are 125, 250 and 300cc two-strokes, and a quarter of thumpers of 250, 350, 450 and 500cc capacity. In previous years Sherco buyers had…

01 MIPS (MultiDirectional Impact Protection System) Brain Protection System (BPS) absorbs and redirects rotational energies. 02 Removable and washable moisturewicking liner for easy cleaning between rides. 03 Rear shell shape easily repositions the goggle strap. 04 Injection-moulded polycarbonate/ABS shell is DOT and ECE 22.05 approved, with dual-density EPS liner with extensive venting. 05 Fully adjustable visor is vented to reduce lift, while high-flow mouth vent has filtered air intake. GET FULL PRODUCT INFO AT www.thormx.com…

The Aviator 3 Rainbow design helmet from Airoh raises the level of competition and redefines the standards by which an off-road helmet will be judged. Can you say deluxe? This helmet says it loud and clear. The Aviator 3 features a full carbon 3K shell in the Primal graphics version, or a HPC Composite shell for all other graphic schemes. There are four distinct outer shell sizes in both versions, and the shells have been designed in wind tunnels to engineer the best shapes and performance, thus the best possible aerodynamics ensure helmet stability, even at high speeds. There’s a removable and washable hypo-allergenic magnetic inner lining, while a massive eight air intakes and extractors are designed to keep you cool even when conditions are running hot. An innovative hydration…

Ever ridden a dirtbike with an out-ofbalance wheel? Chances are you’ll remember it for the fact that as your speed increases, so too does the gyroscopic effect of the unbalanced wheel and you’ll soon be shaking your fillings out! It makes for an uncomfortable, bone-rattling ride that you won’t want to put up with for long, that’s for sure. So let’s take a look at your bike’s wheels and some tips and tricks that will help keep you riding straight and true. STAYING TRUE Building wheels is something of a specialist art. Taking a set of spokes and spoke nipples and lacing a hub to a rim might make you ask, “What’s so tough about that?” But the critical thing is you need to build it ‘true’. That means the…

MOTO MANUAL TRAIL RIDING TIP ON THE MOVE There are so many tips to remember when it comes to conquering creek crossings, but the very first thing you need to come to grips with is that the bike is going to move around. The bed of the creek can be littered with loose rocks of all shapes and sizes, there can small or large logs at all sorts of angles, and there can be mosscovered sections that will cause your bike to perform movements you aren’t ready for. The key is being comfortable with the movement so you stay fluid with the bike and remain balanced. If you freak out and tense up, your balance goes out the window and you’ll have both feet down in the drink in no…

MOTOR MOUTH NEWS F air dinkum, this bloke has had more comeback tours than Johnny Farnham! But we’re rapt to see Dean Ferris is pulling on the riding gear and going around one more time in this year’s Pro MX Nationals after inking a deal to race with the Brisbane Motorcycles Yamaha team. “After Coolum last year, my family and I set off to travel Australia in a caravan,” Deano explains. “It was great, as honestly I really needed the break. But after a couple months on the road, I started getting itchy feet. When you wake up every day with nowhere to be and complete freedom to choose what to do, it becomes really clear what your values are. After a month of choosing to travel, all I could think…

After what can only be described as a dominant debut season racing full-time in Japan, Aussie Jay Wilson has confirmed he will be returning to the Land of the Rising Sun this year. Continuing his long relationship with Yamaha, Wilson will be stepping up from the 250 to 450 class in Japan for 2023, and will be rider/manager in the newly formed Yamaha Factory Innovation Racing team. Alongside his racing, Wilson will continue his R&D work with Yamaha developing new bikes and products, as well as mentoring up and coming young Japanese riders.“2022 was a great year for me and my family and we have really found a home for ourselves in Japan, both on and off the track,” says Wilson. “We have embraced living in Japan and when presented…

Whites Powersports has been championing the Leatt brand in New Zealand for more than a decade — a proud and productive relationship that has seen impressive results as both companies have grown. Having cultivated a loyal brand following on one side of the Tasman, Whites Powersports is now proud to also be appointed Leatt’s exclusive Moto distributor in Australia. Whites Powersports CEO Kyne Larkin said: “We’re really excited to be appointed as Leatt’s exclusive distributor in both Australia and New Zealand. Leatt’s products are a testament to their unwavering focus on innovative technology, testing and problem-solving functionality. This recipe has been very well received in New Zealand, and we’re excited to now represent Leatt in Australia as a premier, results-driven brand.” Leatt is an internationally renowned brand out of South…

Longtime Aussie motorcycle accessory importer and distributor Steve Cramer Products has landed a new product line for 2023, Spectra Performance Oils. One of the world’s leading lubricant brands, Spectra offers more than 180 products designed to meet or exceed every major motorcycle specification, and they will be available from SCP dealers nationwide. Striving to provide consumers with ‘Every Fluid for Every Bike’, Spectro goes beyond just oil, with brake fluids, suspension fluids, cleaners, filter products, coolants and more included in its high-quality range. Ask for Spectro oils at your local motorcycle dealer.…

INTERVIEW: JETT LAWRENCE For a rider who’s still yet to turn 20 years of age — that landmark comes in August this year — there’s already been an awful lot of dirt pass under the wheels of Aussie MX phenom Jett Lawrence. Jett, and his older brother Hunter, have conquered racing in Australia, then Europe, before touching down in America to paint a green-and-gold swathe through the highly-competitive 250cc class in AMA supercross and motocross racing. Remarkably, Jett has already railed down two AMA 250 MX titles and an AMA 250 East Supercross Championship, as the Lawrence brothers have firmly entrenched themselves as part of the elite Team Honda squad that has produced champions like Hansen, Bailey, Johnson, O’Mara and Carmichael over the years. Jett is already being touted as…

TEST RIDE GASGAS ES 700 Badge engineering. It’s been a big part of the automotive industry for ages as various manufacturers take over or buy into rival brands and start crossdressing products from one marquee to another. In the dirtbike world, the practice has been somewhat less prolific. But who can forget that time Suzuki and Kawasaki announced a strategic business alliance in 2001 and we suddenly had bright-green DR-Z400s thundering through the undergrowth? More recently, Austrian moto mogul Stefan Pierer has been on a determined drive to escalate his KTM-based business into a powerhouse of the global motorcycle world. And the way to do that is to make more motorcycles. And obviously, if you have a second brand of motorcycle, you can make more motorcycles to sell. And then…

Phwoar! How’s this for a hell of a sexy bolt-on for your booming new bLU cRU bomber? Akrapovic have clearly hit it out of the park with this exhaust system for the latest YZ450F, which meets every goal you’d expect from a performance exhaust system: to save weight, improve performance and look horny! The Akrapovic Titanium Evolution Line full system has been developed in conjunction with, and is used by, the Yamaha Racing and Yamaha Factory MXGP teams, and boasts the following tech features: » Manufactured from lightweight high-grade premium titanium alloys. » Weighs 0.9kg less than the stock components. » Delivers increased performance levels with an increase of 1.8kW at 10,600rpm and a boost of 1.5Nm torque at 10,500rpm. » Delivers a distinctive sound while ensuring maximum performance. »…

MOTO MANUAL ENDURO BIKE BUILD Factory race team bikes are fascinating pieces of machinery. Some are sprinkled with unobtainable parts and have a laundry list of modifications, while others are surprisingly close to standard and aren’t that much different to what the average punter might have parked in their shed. The 2023-model Sherco SEF 300 race bike of Sherco Australia team rider Jonte Reynders sits somewhere in the middle. The AORC contender chooses a setup that uses the standard machine as a baseline, then a bunch of personal fine-tuning is added, before finally the team goes on a bit of a ‘click-frenzy’ with the Sherco factory parts online catalogue. BUMP & GRIND Starting with the big-ticket items, the Sherco team has invested in Kashima and DLC (diamond like coating] coated…

MOTO MANUAL TRAINING TIPS As a rider, you know the importance of pushing your limits on the track. But have you ever thought about the role that nutrition plays in your performance? Proper nutrition is just as important as practising your technique or maintaining your bike. It’s the fuel that keeps your engine running at its best. In this article, we’ll dive into the importance of nutrition for motocross and off-road athletes and give you some specific recommendations for what to eat and drink before and after a race. CALORIE & CARBO COUNTING First, let’s talk about how many calories you’re burning during a typical motocross race. A 30-minute moto can burn anywhere from 500 to 800 calories! That’s a lot of energy being expended, so it’s crucial to replenish…