Innehållsförteckning för Issue 251 från Dirt Action

MOTOR MOUTH NEWS Ken Roczen is going all-in with the FIM-sanctioned World Supercross Championship, announcing he will defend his WSX number-one plate in this year's championship, and that he's in for the next two years as well. After splitting with the factory American Honda race team last year, Roczen linked up with the Aussie-owned Firepower Honda team to win last year's fledgling two-round WSX championship that featured events in Wales in the UK and Melbourne. This year's WSX has expanded to six rounds, kicking off in Birmingham in the UK before romping through events in France (July 22), southeast Asia (September 30), Germany (October 14) and Canada (October 28) before once again rocking Melbourne's Marvel Stadium for a huge grand final weekend on November 24/25. Roczen, who has enjoyed a…

Beta Motorcycles Australia has thrown its weight behind a two-rider factory-backed offroad race team, with Ruben Chadwick and Fraser Higlett setting their sights on major national and state off-road races and hard enduro events. Hard enduro rider Chadwick has already kicked off the season with a win in the Kosciuszko Killer, while the duo have been mixing it up at the sharp end of both AORC and Queensland state championship rounds. Chadwick is competing aboard the RR 300 Racing two-banger, while Higlett has been sizing up the opposition aboard his RR 390 Racing thumper. SHERCO SE 300 MARIO ROMAN EDITION The SE 300 Factory has long been a flagship model in the Sherco line-up as a benchmark hard enduro mount thanks to its blend of carburettor-fed torque, razorsharp chassis, acclaimed…

MOTOR MOUTH THEN & NOW 01: With five world motocross championships to his name, Belgian rider Joel Smets is a true legend of global motocross. A gentle giant of the sport, Smets helped to bring notoriety to the Husaberg brand, in the era when four-stroke machines were just starting to dominate the World 500cc Motocross. He then joined KTM and continued his success, and had a stint with Team Suzuki before injuries finally brought about his retirement from MX GP competition. BMW coaxed him back to racing with a big-dollar offer to assist in developing their 450cc enduro machine, but that project proved rather ill-fated from the outset. In 2015, Smets joined KTM once again as a racing sports director working with the Austrian brand's factory race teams, helping guide…

INTERVIEW: AARON TANTI There was absolutely no missing the name Aaron Tanti in Australian motocross and supercross racing in 2022. A break-out season with the CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Racing team delivered the Queenslandbased MX pro the prestigious ProMX MX1 championship, and, were it not for a crash at the Newcastle Supercross, he went tantalisingly close to capturing the Australian SX1 Championship as well. Coming into 2023 with the weight of the MX1 number-one plate on his shoulders, we figured it was high time to find out what makes Aaron Tanti tick … You're off to a cracking start for 2023, with wins and podiums in ProMX and the Queensland Sunshine State MX series. We're guessing you had a good off-season? Yeah, things are off to a great start this…

AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES Hang on a minute. This can't be right. Honda hadn't won a premier-class AMA Supercross Championship for 20 years? No way. Back in the day it seemed like for 20 years straight only Hondas won the AMA 250cc Supercross title. The roll call of victorious red riders through the 1980s, '90s and into the early '00s included the names Hansen, Bailey, O'Mara, Johnson, Stanton, Bayle, McGrath and Carmichael. But after RC's '03 title tilt, the red tide washed back out to sea … and it's been a long old wait before it finally came crashing back to shore. That's right, precisely 20 years later, Chase Sexton has delivered Team Honda the most coveted number-one plate in dirtbike racing, but it's fair to say he didn't make it…

01 HPC Carbon helmet shell is made in four shell sizes to provide a perfect fit for XS to XXL helmet sizes. 02 Wind tunnel testing delivers aerodynamics that keep the helmet stable at high speeds while optimising thermal regulation. 03 Eight air inlets ensure maximum performance of the ventilation system at the chin, front and top of the helmet. 04 Maximum technology includes Airoh's emergency fast-release system, magnetic lining system, hydration system and multi-action safety system. 05 Includes hypoallergenic, removable and washable liner, plus a nose guard, action cam mount and helmet bag. RRP: $1,199.95 www.motonational.com.au…

MOTO MANUAL TRAINING TIPS ICE, ICE BABY First things first: ice baths and massage guns have become increasingly popular in recent years as recovery tools for athletes. But are they actually beneficial? Ice baths, also known as cold-water immersion therapy, involve immersing the body in cold water after a workout or competition. The theory behind ice baths is that they reduce inflammation and muscle soreness, which can help with recovery. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of evidence out there supporting this, and recently there have been some new studies showing that post-exercise cold-water immersion doesn't appear to influence performance adaptations associated with aerobic training and can actually lead to a decrease in maximum strength performance as well as impair muscle protein synthesis. So in the short term you may…

MOTOR MOUTH NEWS After a major model update for the 2023 season, KTM has pulled the wraps off its '24 model SX and SX-F range and the word is the orange rockets boast a fresh new look and reworked suspension settings. As a recap, the '23 moto models debuted a completely redesigned chassis built around a hydroformed, laser-cut and robot-welded frame, a twopiece polyamide reinforced aluminium sub-frame and a hollow die-cast aluminium swingarm that combined to deliver improved rider feedback, energy absorption and straight-line stability at speed. For '24 those refinements continue, with the addition of new suspension settings focused on improving bike balance and control via the 48mm WP XACT fork and WP XACT shock. As for the new look, the '24 model KTMs feature an all-new graphics set…

YAMAHA WR250F Credit where credit is due: the bLU cRU have certainly it hit it out of the park when it comes to dishing up twowheeled pleasure machines that we Aussie moto warriors grow to love. From the very first Pee Wee 50 back in 1981 through to the very latest YZ450F 42 years later, Yamaha has kicked some serious dirtbiking goals. For the past 22 years, Aussie trail and enduro riders and Yamaha WR-Fs have gone hand in hand. The blue trailblazers have been perennial top sellers for the tuning fork brand by striking an optimum blend of performance, price and unbustable reliability, all mixed with local R&D input to make the bikes so well suited to Aussie riding conditions. While the big-banger WR450F has long been Yamaha's off-road…

THAILAND TRAIL TOUR When the hard-riding and even harder-partying Jerkyls invite you to Thailand for a week of fun and adventure, there really is only one response: Hell yeah! The Jerkyls are an elusive more than exclusive group of vintage dirt track racers with an oldschool aesthetic. Well, I own an old Honda XR200 and an ancient Suzuki SP370 chook chaser — which aren't gonna win me any races — but they at least put me in the same conversation with this crew. The big question is, will I be able to keep up with the Jerkyls, both on the trail and in the bars? We have a week to find out. The mission was a tour of northern Thailand starting and finishing in Chiang Mai and hosted by the…

MOROCCO DESERT CHALLENGE Once a racer, always a racer. But after racing the Dakar Rally in January 2020, it all pretty much backed off for me. I finished 13th in that race, which was a great result and offered me some redemption for having DNFed the previous year. But after that the world changed with the pandemic, and then being so busy with work and life for the past couple of years, any hopes of racing Dakar again dropped off the radar. But … I had been keeping in contact with some of Yamaha's racing bosses in Europe as I have a good relationship with those guys. So when I started getting random text messages from them saying they still had me in mind for ‘future projects’, it left me…

MOTO MANUAL ENDURO BIKE BUILD Factory-backed deals are the ultimate goal for any aspiring racer. Bikes, parts and bonus programs are great rewards for all those podium finishes. But behind the scenes, race team structures aren't always what you might think. In times gone by, when a rider signed onto a manufacturer-backed program, their deal was not only inclusive of bikes and parts, but the team usually covered other big-ticket items such as riding gear, tyres, and plastics. Throughout his teenage racing years, Korey McMahon developed key relationships with some of the industry's biggest brands, including Kenda tyres, O'Neal MX gear, and Acerbis plastics. When the opportunity arose in 2021 for McMahon to sign-up as the one and only member of the newly formed GasGas enduro team, McMahon not only…

MOTO MANUAL ADV RIDING TIPS It seems like adventure bike riding really is the flavour of the month right now. Adventure bikes, both new and used, are selling like hotcakes at the moment, and everyone is taking aim for the wide-open spaces. But before you go crazy and start strapping gear all over your bike, take heed of these five fast tips that will help you to determine what you will really need to have with you, and how to carry it on your bike. SOFT LUGGAGE Hard cases might be the go if you're sticking to the tarmac and having a leisurely ‘soft-roader’ adventure. They're convenient, easy to pack and offer some security for your gear. But if you're like most Aussie ADVers, you'll want to explore dirt roads…

MOTOR MOUTH NEWS We're mid-way through 2023 and that means the '24 model MX machines will be touching down over coming months, and Austrian brand Husqvarna has been one of the first to take the wraps off their latest machines. And the news is it's steady as she goes at Team Husky, with the TC two-stroke and FC four-stroke dirt churners scoring little in the way of major updates for the new model year, as they instead boast detail updates. First cab off the rank when it comes to the changes is that the '24 models feature new grey and yellow graphics that deliver a distinctive look, along with a new high-grip seat cover that gives the rider improved control under hard acceleration. Plus, there are new suspension settings that…

MOTOR MOUTH NEWS Former Japanese MX2 national champion Haruki Yokoyama is backing up for another season racing in Australia as part of the distributor-backed Empire Motorsports Kawasaki race team. Yokoyama won the All-Japan Motocross Championship in the IA2 |MX2] class in 2019 and again in '20, then with the support of Kawasaki, moved to Australia in '21 and linked up with the Empire Motorsports squad last year. By season's end the diminutive Japanese ace, who has ridden with Kawasaki for over a decade, had wrapped up sixth overall in the MX2 class of the ProMX Nationals, highlighted by a third overall at round six of the series in Coffs Harbour. “Before we started the '22 season, me and my wife set the goal for an overall podium, and we did…

HUSKY FE 501 RALLYE BUILD They say bright sunlight lifts your spirits. Here's a little secret: if you want to multiply that effect by a thousand, kick your leg over a brand-new, straight off the shop floor, limited edition, 2023 model Husqvarna FE 501 Heritage enduro bike — but do it amongst the lush pine trees of the iconic Sunny Corner forests in NSW, where you know epic riding ideally suited to this dirt-munching off-road slayer will be laid out before you. And then there's that permanent grin you get when you see that brand-new bike rolling out of the van and knowing it's yours, the Husky's Heritage colours absolutely popping against the vivid green pines. Now that's a day to remember! I felt like I'd been shot up the…

PICTORIAL: KTM ADVENTURE RALLYE…

TEST RIDE YAMAHA YDX MORO 07 E-MTB Full disclosure: I love e-MTBs, like really love them. But as I readily admit, I was a long-time hold-out from ‘crossing over’ to the world of pedal assistance. However, all it took was a test ride on an e-bike in the midst of the COVID lockdowns. First time up a hill at Mount Narra here on Sydney's northern beaches where I live and I was sold. Sold! Fair dinkum, I had to pull on the brakes coming into corners on the uphills. Honestly! The ‘assistance’ from that tiny electric motor was amazing. And then when I got up the top and gazed back at the view over Narrabeen Lake, I wasn't even puffing. On the pedal bike I would have been hucking up…

APPROACH First and foremost, always make contact with a log straight-on. Any attempt to deal with a log at an angle will end in tears, especially when it's wet and slippery. Try to read the surface of the ground immediately before the log as best you can, especially where you will apply the throttle and clutch to lift the front wheel. Misreading the amount of traction available at this point will send your front wheel straight into the log. BODY POSITION Attack a log in the central standing position. Grip the bike tightly with your legs to help it stay straight and discourage the rear end of the bike from skipping sideways. Don't fall into the trap of leaning back to deal with a log, if you do and the…