Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Jason Anderson believes he’s ‘expected to win’ tomorrow night’s Monster Energy AUS-X Open Sydney as he enters as the reigning Monster Energy AMA Supercross Champion.

Anderson, who lifted the AUS-X Open crown on night two last year at Qudos Bank Arena, says the prestigious event offers a beneficial break in his preparations for an extensive 2019 campaign that’s set to see him defend the prized number one plate.

“It’s cool to come to here, race and have fun more than anything,” Anderson told MotoOnline.com.au. “It’s a good event and good competition, but coming in as a champion, you’re expected to win. I’d say it’s preparation, but first and foremost, I’m contracted to do the US series, but after that’s over, it’s one of my number one races to try come over and do. It’s a nice little break in the off-season.”

The American ace will be joined by Australian legend Chad Reed (Autotrader Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing) and fellow AMA regular Dean Wilson (DPH Motorsport Husqvarna) as the headlining riders of the AUS-X Open, which marks the final round of the Australian Supercross Championship.

Serco Yamaha’s Jacob Hayes has declared the tighter confines of Qudos Bank Arena serve as his ‘style of racing’ on the eve of the Monster Energy AUS-X Open Sydney, marking the final round of the Australian Supercross Championship this weekend.

Hayes, the 2018 AMA Arenacross champion, will draw upon his years of experience in the fierce and aggressive discipline in hopes of earning his maiden main event victory on Saturday night, and ultimately the SX2 crown.

A dark horse in the title race, the American sits 13 points shy of current leader Jay Wilson (Yamalube Yamaha Racing) and is tied with teammate Wilson Todd for third.

“I’m tied with Wilson for third, and I’m 13 points out of the lead,” Hayes explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “It’s just riding dirt bikes, and anything can happen. My goal is to go out there and win a main event – I haven’t won an overall. My goal is to win all three if I can and go out with a bang. It’s my style of racing – it’s tight and I’m excited to do battle.

“I’ve watched this race for many years and dreamt about racing it, so to be here and bang bars is going to be fun. It’s tight racing and I’ve done it for many years now – I’m no stranger to it. I feel like I’ve enjoyed the Triple Crown, but this weekend they’re doing it a little different where they’re back-to-back – we don’t have the 450s in between – so that’ll cut our rest time.”

Hayes admits he’s struggled to come to terms with the hard-packed soil in the opening rounds here in Australia, particularly with his start-gate preparation. Although with the the AUS-X Open set to boast a metal starting grate in tomorrow’s three-race encounter, he’s confident it will only play into his favour.

“I’m pumped we’re using a grate this weekend behind the start line – the dirt has caught me off-guard over here. The first couple of rounds I was caught way off-guard – I remember telling my mechanic that I didn’t how to pack my gate because the dirt is so hard here. I think that’ll play into my favour – I’m familiar with doing starts like that.”

The initial practice and qualifying sessions are set to take place this afternoon at the Sydney Olympic Park venue before racing kicks off tomorrow.

Motorcycling Australia (MA) has made the 2019 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship calendar official, confirming the dates and locations of each round.

Next year’s championship will continue to use a double-header format, except for round seven as the series will return to Broken Hill for a four-hour desert Cross Country.

Kicking off the season will be rounds one and two in Gympie, Queensland, taking place 9-10 March. The series will then move to New South Wales for an Enduro in Dungog on 6-7 April.

Rounds five and six will see the championship then return to Kyogle in New South Wales after a successful event in 2017, pencilled in for 20-21 July.

Broken Hill will feature on 10-11 August and then it’s off to SA from 31 August-1 September, however the venue is still to be announced. The championship finale will conclude at Victoria as it returns to Penshurst since being there last in 2016, scheduled for 14-15 September.

2019 Australian Off-Road Championship calendar:
Rd1 – 9 March – Gympie, QLD
Rd2 – 10 March – Gympie, QLD
Rd3 – 6 April – Dungog, NSW
Rd4 – 7 April – Dungog, NSW
Rd5 – 20 July – Kyogle, NSW
Rd6 – 21 July – Kyogle, NSW
Rd7 – 10-11 August – Broken Hill, NSW
Rd8 – 31 August – SA
Rd9 – 1 September – SA
Rd10 – 14 September – Penshurst, VIC
Rd11 – 15 September – Penshurst, VIC

Saturday night’s Monster Energy AUS-X Open Sydney is set to serve up a thrilling SX2 Triple Crown as the Australian Supercross Championship is decided at Qudos Bank Arena, but it will be business as usual for points leader Jay Wilson.

The Yamalube Yamaha Racing ace holds an 11-point advantage over DPH Motorsport Husqvarna’s Hayden Mellross, who declared yesterday he’ll do whatever it takes to snatch the crown, while Serco Yamaha duo Wilson Todd and Jacob Hayes are just a further two markers behind.

Acknowledging the unpredictable nature of indoor racing could see anything happen at the Sydney Olympic Park venue, Wilson is adamant his regular approach will grant him the best opportunity of being crowned champion.

“I do have an 11-point lead, but anything can happen indoors,” Wilson shared with MotoOnline.com.au. “For me, I’ll be going there to do what we’ve been doing, and that’s winning races. I’ve been putting the work in and the team’s been solid, so there’s no reason why we can’t win and that’s how we’re approaching it.

“Everyone wants to win, I’ve just got to be on my A game and win as many races as possible. It’s not so much about working out or calculating what’s going on out there – if I go out and win, then we’re in a good position – that’s how I look at it.”

The Gold Coast-based athlete excelled at last year’s AUS-X Open to claim third, effectively rebooting his career. No stranger to tighter confines of an arena, he’ll be drawing upon his stadium cross and arenacross experience to ensure the number one plate lands in his hands.

“The atmosphere of it really makes people step up, but I just enjoy being there,” he continued. “It’s the sort of racing I grew up riding – the tight, indoor stuff – a lot of the practice tracks I grew up on were really tight, so I always did well at the stadium cross’.

“I went over and did the Arenacross UK series, and that’s a take-out fest – that opens your eyes to indoor racing, but I’ve done it for a while now and I think we’re in a good position.”

BMW Motorrad Motorsport will be entering it’s recently unveiled BMW S 1000 RR in the FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) in 2019 season as part of the new BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team

In an announcement made at Milan’s EICMA show in Italy, BMW will work in collaboration with Shaun Muir Racing and will field 2013 Superbike World Championship winner Tom Sykes together with reigning Superstock 1000 European champion and three-times IDM champion Markus Reiterberger.

With the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team and the cooperation with Shaun Muir Racing, BMW Motorrad is significantly expanding its engagement in the WorldSBK. At the same time, BMW Motorrad will continue its successful customer racing program in numerous other national and international racing series.

Cooperation with BMW Group Motorsport is also being intensified so as to tap into additional synergies between automobile and motorcycle racing, especially in terms of trade and logistics.

Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) is set to re-enter the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) in 2019 with a new-look factory team, announcing the news at the EICMA show in Milan, Italy.

HRC is set to collaborate with Althea and Moriwaki as they field Leon Camier and Ryuichi Kiyonari aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2, receiving full factory support from the Japanese manufacturer.

Camier will be sticking with the machine for a second season in a row, and after a strong start to his campaign with the Fireblade before dealing with injury setbacks, he’s eager for what awaits in 2019.

“I am really excited, this is a massive opportunity and it’s massively exciting,” said Camier. “For HRC to come back into world superbike is incredible, and I’m really looking forward to getting started. The level of WorldSBK is really high, a lot higher than people realise, Rea has set the bar really high.

“Our plan is it improve and take it to Kawasaki at some point, we need to be competitive from the off. It’s a new team with new things coming together and a lot of things to work on. I feel the potential is there to be knocking on the podium.”

Next year will mark the return of Japanese ace Ryuichi Kiyonari, who’s set make his first WorldSBK start since 2009, when he was last on the grid with Honda.

“First I am a bit surprised are HRC coming back to superbike, and I am surprised HRC called me,” Kiyonari explained. “It’s been 10 years since I have ridden in WorldSBK, I am very happy to join this big project. I have two years of experience in WorldSBK – in 2008 and 2009 and it’s very competitive. It’s not easy to finish in the top six, but we have a good bike and a good team, if I can do a good job I hope I can get good results.”

The announcement marks the first time a factory Honda squad has been involved in the Superbike World Championship since 2002. Honda’s previous WorldSBK efforts were most recently operated by the Red Bull Honda squad, which received support from Honda Pro Racing.

Valentino Rossi is still accepting Sepang’s penultimate round of the 2018 MotoGP World Championship as a positive weekend, despite crashing out of the lead with five laps remaining.

The multi-time world champions displayed strong form and looked to be in line for his first victory since Assen in 2017, however it wasn’t to be as a critical mistake saw him slide out in the closing stages while under pressure from Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), who went onto seal victory.

The Italian ace remounted for 18th position and still retains third in the championship standings, although his chances of advancing to second in the rankings have been crushed, losing crucial points to rival Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team).

“It was a great shame because this was my best race of the season,” Rossi explained. “I felt comfortable, I had a good pace, I pushed, and I had the chance to win, but unfortunately with four or five laps to go I fell – I don’t understand what happened. I made a mistake, because I crashed.

“It’s such a pity, but it still remains a good weekend, because we improved the setting of the bike. I think we have to do some more work, but it looks like we were able to use the bike in a better way in the last few races. This is good, but we have to see if we’re also strong in Valencia. It’s a difficult track for us in general, but we have to try.”

The number 46 will return to action at Valencia in Spain on 18 November for the final round of the world championship.