Justin Barcia believes he was back to his usual self at the weekend’s sixth round of the 2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship in Minneapolis after suffering a heavy fall last month at Anaheim 2.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing rider experienced a mixed start to his campaign, capturing victory at the season-opener before recording a DNF at A2, while a technical issue ruled him out of San Diego’s mudder.

Despite crashing in the main, Barcia charged back to ninth at Minneapolis, although he believes he was in with a podium chance in Saturday’s 26-lap affair.

“Going into the main event I didn’t make any bike changes, or anything like that I was really comfortable,” Barcia commented. “I was right on the main pack of guys in front of me, I just came into the corner pretty quick, pushed my front end and ended up going down pretty hard and rode home to ninth.

“For me it was a frustrating race to say the least because I felt like I was capable of being on the podium tonight and fighting for the win. It’s definitely frustrating, but I felt like I was back to myself again, comfort wise and stuff, I felt good on the bike.

“I was happy with my riding, just wish I could’ve done better in the main event. Moving on to next weekend I just want to have good starts and get back up front.”

The main was taken out by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Cooper Webb – his third of the season – followed by points leader Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC) and Marvin Musquin (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

The opening round of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, the Superloop Adelaide 500, will feature a Moto X Step Up competition for the very first time on 28 February-3 March.

The street circuit opener has regularly hosted dirt bike disciplines alongside the on-track action, including endurocross and split-rhythm in previous years, however 2019 marks a new beginning for the sideshow event that will offer up a $40,000 prize pool.

Boasting a stellar national and international line up, Australians and X Games medalists Corey Creed and Jarryd McNeil will be joined by American duo Colby Raha and Tom Parsons, as well as Libor Podmol from the Czech Republic.

“It’s going to be fun going up against the best in the world but I’m going to give myself the best chance to win,” Creed explained. “The opportunity to compete in Adelaide for the first time is exciting – I can’t wait to get to Adelaide and put on a show for all the fans.”

Raha added: “I’m stoked to compete in the Step Up competition in Adelaide with the Aussies. It’s cool to see how big the industry has become in Australia over the years and the level of riders coming from there. Now, coming off a third in Step Up at the last X Games, I’m ready to go again – it’s time to go big!”

Moto X Step Up will see the bar increase in height, beginning at 36 feet and sometimes reaching 55 feet in order to secure eliminations. If a rider is unsuccessful in their two attempts they are eliminated, with the final remaining rider being determined as the winner.

Taking hold of the Austrian manufacturer’s factory efforts in Australia for 2019, Raceline KTM has confirmed a three-rider line-up for the upcoming Pirelli MX Nationals.

Former international Hayden Mellross will step-up to the premier class for the second time in his career, headlining the outfit’s campaign in the MX1 division.

The popular New South Welshman contested the 2014 MX Nationals in MX1 while being heavily supported by Raceline for his then Suzuki-mounted campaign, winding up seventh in the championship standings in his rookie year.

Fellow New South Welshman Jy Roberts, a race winner in 2018, will pilot a KTM 250 SX-F in the MX2 category, as Western Australian Regan Duffy will graduate from the junior ranks to challenge for the MXD title. The team is set to reveal its partners and officially introduce the squad at the beginning of next month.

Maverick Vinales believes he’s closer to the competition than last year in terms of bike set-up following a fruitful three days of MotoGP testing at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia last week.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider topped the timesheets on day two before settling into P5 on Friday, where he completed 79 laps and finalised the direction of his testing program.

“The test was really good,” said Vinales. “I actually missed one time attack in the morning which I planned to make in the afternoon, but finally it was so hot that the tyre was sliding a lot, so I couldn‘t improve my lap time from the morning. Anyway, I‘m happy because on the race simulation I felt really good. I was really tired, but I felt good on the bike.

“Day by day the bike was working pretty similar, as in the last test. You always get positives and negatives testing new items. Now we have to come to a conclusion to see if we should bring the new fairing to Qatar.

“I also made some laps behind our rivals, so I could compare how our bike is working, and it‘s not bad. There are just some small details left and that‘s the most important. Last year they were some steps ahead, and now we are closer.”

The MotoGP World Championship contingent will now head to Losail International Circuit in Qatar on 23 February for the final pre-season test.

Nine-time world champion Antonio Cairoli wrapped up the 2019 Internazionali D’Italia in Mantova at the weekend, marking his 11th premier class crown in the Italian motocross series.

The championship offered up a perfect opportunity for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider to carry out testing in race conditions, playing an important role in his pre-season campaign ahead of the MXGP World Championship.

“The Italian championship is always a good series because we have a lot of champions on the line, this year especially with four different world champions,” Cairoli explained. “We had a lot of things to test and the best way to do that was with racing. We had a perfect series, except for that first moto today – I was upset with my start.

“It was good in one way, and that’s to be able to make some passes and work through the pack and learn about that. This is also good training for the GPs. When we are on the line in the world championship it is a little bit different – everyone is extra motivated and doing their best to keep up with me and Jeffrey.

“I think since last year people have been working with us in mind. We will improve but they will improve also. We’ll see when the gate drops in MXGP but the championship there is very long and you have to be consistent and don’t make mistakes. This is the key.”

The weekend’s finale at Mantova saw Tim Gajser (Honda HRC) and Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing) edge out Cairoli in the the MX1 encounter, while Cairoli topped the Superfinal over Max Nagl (KTM) and reigning MX2 world champion Jorge Prado (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

Australian Mitch Evans (Team Honda 114 Motorsport) was 11th in the MX2 race, winding up an impressive ninth in the Superfinal, which sees the top 450 and 450 riders combined. Compatriot Caleb Grothues (SDM Corse Yamaha) battled through illness, however was unable to make it out for racing.

After lodging impressive times at Sepang’s three-day MotoGP test last week in Malaysia, Alex Rins has declared further developments with his Suzuki GSX-RR will be rolled out at the Qatar test on 23 February.

The Team Suzuki Ecstar ace wound up second on the timesheets during days one and two at Sepang, however the third and final day saw the Spaniard close out proceedings in P12 after fine tuning his set-up.

“Today was a very positive day, and so were the previous two days,” Rins reflected. “We’ve tried a lot of things and we’ve developed the bike a bit more, so I feel our package is even better now. I was able to do a lot of laps in the 1m59s bracket.

“For sure we need to keep working and try a few other things in Qatar that we didn’t have a chance to check here, and the engineers will continue to work. I feel that the championship will be really interesting this year, there are a lot of riders close together, and a very high level.”

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) topped the final day of testing with a blistering 1m58.239s time, edging out rookie Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and Australian Jack Miller (Pramac Racing).