Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2016 i Dirt Action

2017 HUSQVARNA MOTOCROSS RANGE Husqvarna has put a lot of work into its motocross range for 2017. Coming off a huge couple of years for the brand and finding some excellent form on race tracks around the world, Husky will be every bit the challenger it should be. Featuring a new and lighter laser-cut and robot welded chromium molybdenum steel frame, the white bike should have excellent cornering characteristics as well as amazing feel. The engines across the range have seen weight losses and power gains with the FC450 weighing in at an amazing 5.2 kilograms less than the 2016 model while the 350 comes in at 4.7kg under its predecessor. All bikes receive a new exhaust system designed again to save weight and centralise mass (get used to that…

Fresh off an extremely successful supercross campaign, Aldon Baker has signed a lucrative deal with KTM. The trainer is well known for coaching elite riders Ryan Dungey, Marvin Musquin and Jason Anderson, who have delivered five championship titles in the past three years. The news will see the program at Baker’s Factory expand, providing the highest-quality facilities for a number of new KTM riders. “I am excited and honoured to be involved with the KTM and Husqvarna teams,” Baker said. “[It’s] a dream come true to work with such a high-calibre racing organisation like the KTM Group. I am eager to continue my work by providing the best possible training and racing facility in the industry. It is my hope that Baker’s Factory and personal training will help the riders…

This is a little project I’ve thrown around in the DA office for years but for whatever reasons had just never made happen. Earlier this year I rode a YZ250 after not having done so for a while. It instantly got me excited to fire up this idea and make it happen. We started with a brand spanking new 2016 Yamaha YZ250 and then I went about choosing parts that I felt were premium products to bring together an ultimate build of sorts. To me this is an ultimate build-up that’s within reason: parts that add to the performance, look and feel of the bike without spending another $10K on top of the initial purchase. I raced plenty of YZ125s and 250s through the 2000s and also spent a good…

Following the premiere of Adam’s latest moto adventure, Motonamad II, I hit him up about taking his bike for a spin. After watching the movie I was interested in having a ride on M1 and getting a firsthand feel of the machine on which he covered more than 7000km. Throughout the movie he spends days on the bike taking on just about every type of terrain imaginable. Adam had also spent countless hours customising certain parts of the bike to help raise comfort levels slightly while maintaining a very capable off-road machine. There was the need for luggage, too, both personal and filming equipment, so plenty of thought went into how to carry what was required without sacrificing efficiency and practicality. We grabbed the bike a couple of days after…

If you’ve been living under a rock, you might not realise that the Kamfari has been drawing the attention of locals and interstaters for the past 45 years. Yes, that’s right: the race is probably older than you! In all those years, one name has claimed more victories than any other. Territorian Tony Morris racked up no less than 10 outright wins until he hung up his boots some 16 years ago. In recent years, a New South Welshman by the name of Brad “Wonka” Williscroft has made a yearly pilgrimage to the Top End for the Kamfari, held on the first weekend of May each year. Despite missing a couple of races due to work commitments, Wonka has taken his KTM to victory a total of nine times out…

KTM 50 SX • AER 35 forks by WP Suspension • Fully adjustable shock absorber • New exhaust system • Hour meter • Grown-up graphics • Automatic clutch OGIO LAYOVER STEALTH TRAVEL BAG • Custom in-line skate wheels & locking retractable handles • Internal compression straps • Two low-profile external pockets • Multiple grab handles • Airline regulation carry-on size with 3" expansion zipper • Dimensions: H×W×D 22"×14"×10" • Weight: 3.6kg • Capacity: 46L DUNLOP GEOMAX MX3S TYRES • Anti-rebound rubber for damping & line holding • Directional tread pattern offers optimised braking performance • New “tie-bar”-less design gives better contact feel & traction in muddy conditions • High traction provided by larger centre blocks • Progressive Cornering Block Technology for tighter control • CTCS carcass technology for controlled line-holding…

1: THOR FUSE DAZZ RACEWEAR JERSEY • Fully vented mesh panels • Raglan sleeves offer optimal mobility • 100% polyester material wicks away sweat • No-fade sublimated graphics • Rib knit on collar for proper expansion • Heat transfer neck label • RRP $79.95 PANTS • Perforated & vented panels • Abrasion-tolerant materials • Durable construction & full-grain leather knee panels • Adjustable side clinches & ratchet-style closure • Double stitched polyester & nylon • Pre-curved profile shape naturally fits with seated rider • Small expansion stretch panels on waist • Interior hip pocket • RRP $289.95 2: 6D ATS-1 HELMET • Patented omnidirectional suspension • 3K carbon-fibre shell lay-up • Aerodynamic CFD shell design • 3 shell sizes • 10-position shield adjustment • EPS lined chin bar • 5…

The 2016 AUS-X Open will once again take place at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena (formerly AllPhones) on November 12–13. Following the success of last year’s spectacular event, Chad Reed will once again put his hand up to compete. The veteran is fresh off another successful AMA Supercross season where he finished fifth overall behind the next generation of superstars, including Ryan Dungey and Ken Roczen. “Following a crazy couple nights of racing last year with Ricky (Carmichael) and Cooper (Webb), I’m pumped to be returning down under,” Reed said. “It was awesome to see all the Australian fans come out and support the sport in 2015 and I’m excited to see everyone once again for a bigger and better event in 2016! “For me, the ultimate race in Australia is…

The Suzuki RMX450Z has long been the wandering soul of the 450 enduro market. Being unregistrable, the motocrosser turned enduro machine once had a small market niche; the RMX wasn’t able to be legally trail ridden in most states. In 2015, Suzuki Australia took the significant step of going through the process to have the RMX450Z ADR approved. From that point on, the game changed. The Suzuki RMX450Z isn’t new to these pages; nor has it been overhauled or updated in 2016, but it’s due for a test at the hands of DIRT ACTION. I was fortunate enough to be invited along for two of Suzuki’s RMX450Z Australian media launches — the first when the bike first landed on Australian soil in 2010 and the next just last year, when…

There are now three MSC dampener designs, all with the same valving but mated to “God knows how many mounting kits” for 100 different dirt bikes, adventure bikes and road bikes Master toolmaker Mark Cumming made his first steering dampener in 1997. Back then it was a basic design with no adjustment, a see-what-happens experiment. Mark says he cobbled it together in his spare time, although nothing this man does is really cobbling. Anyhow, he made this thing and gave it to a friend to try out at a New South Wales pony express in Canberra where the two of them were competing on identical Suzuki RMX250s. It was one of those events run in a forest — a dank, dark, slippery forest, the type of environment New Zealanders consider…

HOT SHOWERS AND PERMANENT TOILETS ARE A LUXURY YOU’LL RARELY FIND ANYWHERE AND A SUPER-EASYGOING AND RELAXED ATMOSPHERE TOPS IT ALL OFF THERE WAS ONE HILL AT THE START THAT CLAIMED PLENTY OF VICTIMS AND HAD SOME SUCKING IN THE BIG ONES EARLY For the better part of a decade, I’ve been making the 2000km-plus round trip to the AMTRA Suzuki High Country Ride (HCR) in Abbeyard, Victoria. I’ve seen snow, fire, dust and epic scenes of endless mountain ridges. Best done with a mate, it’s part adventure ride, part trail ride. It’s fairly long — this year, 150km on the Saturday and 80 on the Sunday — and it’s easily the best-catered-for ride I’ve ever been on. The club’s headquarters at Abbeyard feature a big block of land that’s…

Graham Jarvis has once again made a huge statement that he is the best extreme enduro rider in the world. In the 22nd running of the ErzbergRodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble, Jarvis proved that at 41 years of age he is still a world-class performer. Jarvis methodically moved his Husqvarana into the lead following 30 minutes of racing before going on to check out on the field. In a scintillating display, the Englishman put on a masterclass to finish in a time of two hours and 19 minutes, some 33 minutes ahead of second placed Cody Webb. Alfredo Gomez finished a further three minutes behind in third. “This feels amazing." Jarvis said. after the win. "Erzberg is a race I had marked out as one I wanted to win this…

The 2016 season finished with a thriller as Gavin Faith, Chris Blose and Jacob Hayes all battled it out for the inaugural Ricky Carmichael Cup. Faith held an eight-point lead in the Race to the Championship and needed another strong performance to wrap up the title in Vegas. Making a statement in the final round was Chris Blose, winning both motos and putting pressure on the other riders behind him to perform. Unfortunately, the clean sweep was not enough to claim the championship with Faith recording a pair of runner-up finishes behind Blose to take the honours. “I don’t know if I’ve even been so nervous coming into a weekend,” said Faith. “Chris has been riding great all year and I knew he was going to bring it tonight. It…

Sitting in a hotel room just hours after riding the 2017 KTM enduro range, I’m struggling to put my thoughts together. It’s about 10.30pm here in Spain but back home in Australia it’s 6.30am and as far as my brain is concerned I’ve been up all night riding dirtbikes. Your body acclimatises to new times zones faster than your brain does and right now my somewhat feeble mind is scrambled. It was a big day. We took a bus this morning to a track about an hour from the hotel. The track was next to a house that looked like Pablo Escobar may have lived in it at one stage. There we were greeted by a lineup of 39 bikes from the two- and four-stroke EXC range, from 125 to…

THERE’S ALWAYS BEEN SO MUCH EXPECTED OF SIMMONDS AND IT’S EASY TO SEE THE FUN DRAIN FROM SOMEONE’S LIFE UNDER THAT KIND OF SPOTLIGHT HIS RELAXED DEMEANOUR ALMOST MAKES YOU FORGET WHAT HE CAN DO UNTIL HE STARTS THE BIKE AND MONSTERS ANYTHING ON OR ABOVE THE GROUND Tye Simmonds. What hasn’t been written about Tye Simmonds? He’s been a winner and he’s been the next big thing. He’s been missing in action and a has-been. He’s been seen as the villain and the good guy as well as the saviour of the sport and the embodiment of everything that’s wrong with it at the same time. Two things rarely disputed, though, are that he’s a freakish talent on a dirtbike and that most people who think he’s…

Australia is on top of the world right now in off-road/enduro racing, a fact highlighted in great style late in 2015 when Team Australia raced to a clean sweep of all three trophy classes at the International Six Day Enduro in Slovakia. Apart from World Enduro competitor and 2014 WEC champion Matthew Phillips and 2014 AORC outright champion Daniel Milner, who spent 2015 racing the GNCC series in the US, the remainder of the Australian team consisted of riders who contested the 2015 Australian Off-Road Championship. Again, this highlights just how strong our domestic completion has become in recent years. The scary thing for the rest of the world is that the Australian team were without two of its top-flight riders, with 2015 AORC outright champion Toby Price and 2015…

PRO CIRCUIT TWO-STROKE PIPE 01 Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, Jeff Leisk, Steve Lamson — and we could go on and on — are listed among the awesome riders who run a PC pipe. 02 Build quality is the hallmark of PC and you’d be hard pressed to find a pipe that doesn’t meet the strict standards laid down by founder Mitch Payton. 03 Established in 1978, Pro Circuit will be 40 years old in a couple of years. There aren’t many brands that have lasted that long in moto. 04 Nobody can look at a PC pipe and not drool. It’s one of the most epic manmade objects on the planet. 05 The list of championships this pipe has been involved in all around the world is too long to…