Attention ladies. Girlfriends. Sisters. Mothers even. If you’ve ever wanted to be a model, here’s your chance!

Apparel giants O’Neals famous O’Neal Girls have been gracing the California brands awesome global ad campaigns, posters and calendars for years now. So famous are they that O’Neal even runs a massive annual model comp in the USA to find a new O’Neal Girl. The chance to become one of the pin-ups has only been open to all-American girls in the past though. Not for 2013 however.

For the first time ever O’Neal is launching its famous model search in Europe to find a Euro-based hottie to grace its ads and posters and has teamed up with MOTO to find the fine female who will win this awesome accolade and travel to the USA to be photographed with the rest of the O’Neal girls for all the 2013 promotional material, as well as a whole raft of other sweet prizes too.

Yes that’s right, one lucky lady from our great continent will become the first ever European O’Neal girl and this is the package that is up for grabs. It’s a cracker:
A big ole check for $1000
Flights for you and a friend to Los Angeles
Hotel accommodation for three days and two nights
$500 spending money for the winner whilst in LA
A professional photshoot with O’Neal, of which selected shots will feature in either a 2013 O’Neal print ad, the O’Neal Calendar and/ or an O’Neal poster

This is a massive prize and great opportunity, so if you think you’ve got what it takes to be Europe’s first O’Neal girl then EMAIL IMAGES with your name and what country you are from or if you have a website, Facebook page or online Modelling portfolio send us the links.

EMAIL HERE

All British entries will be shown on this page with a link back to their page on O’Neal if they make it through – we would love a British winner.

Entries so far
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INSTRUCTIONS
Entrants must be 18 years of age or older.
You must provide 1 to 8 photos to be entered into the contest. 8 is better than 1.
The photos must have been taken within the past 6 months.
Images must be submitted in JPEG format and be under 500k.
Group pictures are not accepted. You should be alone on the picture!
Increase your chances of success by uploading body shots and headshots. Bikini shots are great because chances are you’ll be wearing one in the O’Neal photo shoot.
Unfortunately or fortunately (we haven’t figured that out yet), there have been some nude photos submitted to our contest. We do appreciate your celebration of the First Amendment, but we cannot publish “birthday suit” photos on our web site.

Levi Sherwood of New Zealand won the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour on Saturday with a thrilling victory in the final round of the 2012 season in Australia over his hard-charging rival Thomas Pages of France. Australia’s Josh Sheehan salvaged an injury-shortened season with a series of brilliant runs to take third place in the soggy conditions on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour. Pages has turned the sport of freestyle motocross on its head in the second half of the season ever with a breathtaking array of new tricks and finished second overall in the World Tour standings after five competitions on four continents with 2011 champion Dany Torres of Spain taking third.

Sherwood was the dominant force during the entire seven-month 2012 season with three wins, getting clear victories in the season opener in Dubai and then in the mid-summer classic in Madrid. But he was beaten decisively in Glen Helen, California by American Todd Potter, who held the championship lead through the middle of the season. Sherwood then opened a big lead after his win in Madrid but was beaten in Munich by red-hot Pages. Sherwood was finally able to shake off his pesky French rival Pages, getting the clutch triumph he needed in the dramatic showdown battle to win the closest finish in the 12-year history of Red Bull X-Fighters.

“There were a lot of ups and downs during the whole season,” said Sherwood after being pushed to his limits by Pages. Pages dazzled the crowd in Sydney with breathtaking moves such as the flair or the volt. The flair is a mind-boggling 540 degree mid-air turn, the volt leaves him spinning in mid-air above his bike. Sherwood had to first beat hometown hero Sheehan in the semi-final. Sheehan, who won on Cockatoo Island last year, had a great run with a double backflip but suffered two minor crashes, allowing Sherwood to squeak by into the final. It was the battle the world had been waiting for and the New Zealander prevailed with another flawless run under pressure to win his first Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour Title. The best FMX Athletes in the world brought an explosion of tricks like never seen before in a Freestyle-Motocross-Event.

Results Sydney 2012: 1. Levi Sherwood (NZL) , 2. Thomas Pages (FRA), 3. Josh Sheehan (AUS), 4. Jackson Strong (AUS), 5. Eigo Sato (JPN), 6. Taka Higashino (JPN), 7. Dany Torres (ESP) , 8. Cameron Sinclair (AUS), 9. Blake Williams (AUS), 10. Javier Villegas (CHL), 11. Todd Potter (USA)

Results World Tour 2012: 1. Sherwood 335 points, 2. Pages 315, 3. Torres 215, 4. Villegas 190, 5. Sato 190, 6. Potter 155;

Pictures: Sebastian Marko, Andy Schaad, Andy Langreiter, Mark Watson

The BSMA are delighted to introduce the new BSMA Chairman Paul Butler and Vice Chairman Emma Hucklebridge who were both elected at the recent AGM.

With huge passion from these two people along with support from others the BSMA will be promoted to its full potential and will aid clubs in the running fun filled successful events throughout the year.

With a new corporate image and renewed approach the BSMA will strive to be the fantastic organisation it once was and which we have all been devoted too for many years.

The coming year will not only bring about many beneficial changes but will also give each and every one of its riders and clubs an opportunity to participate in what we know will be a very successful year.

With the introduction of a monthly newsletter the communication between the BSMA, clubs and riders will dramatically improve.

To ensure all clubs have fuller line ups and riders are able to race a BSMA club event each week clubs will be helped to form closer working relationships and improved communication with dates and venues being closely considered.

A dedicated office staffed by a full time secretary and part time admin officer has been a welcomed improvement to the administration processes with a more professional approach throughout.

By using social media, online banking, information technology and a modern approach we strive to bring the BSMA up to date and in front of other motocross organisations.

With the support of new commercial sponsors the clubs and riders will benifit from opportunities which may not have been available to them in the past.

With two of its youngest leaders to date it’s now time to put into action all of the plans we have made to develop the future of the BSMA into something totally unforgettable which everyone will want to be part of.

If you are a club or rider who wishes to re-join the BSMA after taking a break to try a different organisation, or if you have not been part of the BSMA before, we welcome you with open arms.

We are willing to present our new approach to any club who wished for us to attend their AGM anywhere in the UK.

If you would like to contact the BSMA please do so by emailing the secretary at traceyoconnor.bsma@live.com

The 2012 AMA Pro Motocross Championship season came to a well-earned, celebratory close for the Rockstar Energy Racing teams in Lake Elsinore, CA, a city known for helping launch the sport of dirt bike racing. Despite overwhelming heat, all the Rockstar athletes gave 100 percent at Saturday’s inaugural Lake Elsinore National, which was held at an all-new facility and a completely revamped racetrack.
Leading the 250 class for Rockstar Energy Racing was Blake Wharton, who finished the day in a solid eighth overall. Wharton got good starts in both motos, riding smart and consistent races to finish eighth in both events. Additionally, Wharton finished seventh in the overall championship points.
“The track was good,” said Wharton of the new course. “It was technical and I’m glad to finish the last round healthy. I’m already thinking about what I can do better next year. I’m looking forward to a break and then getting back to it. I learned a lot this year, and hopefully I can build off of this. I had some ups and downs this season, but that happens. I look forward to next year and will try to keep my head up.”

Rockstar Energy Racing teammate Jason Anderson also had a good weekend at the new track, getting a great start in the second 250 moto and running in a podium position for more than half the race before finishing fifth. At the end of the day, Anderson finished 12th overall at Elsinore, and eighth overall in the end-of-season championship points.

“The weekend ended up pretty good,” said Anderson. “My first moto was rough, I didn’t even finish. But in the second moto, I got a good start and ended up fifth. That was a good, strong moto to end the season with, and I’m happy with it. I’m making progress and I’m looking forward to next year.”

Rockstar Energy Racing’s 250 class rider Martin Davalos was also on hand for the Lake Elsinore National, but only to cheer on his teammates. Unfortunately, Davalos was injured at the previous round and unable to race.

“I couldn’t race this weekend because I broke a rib in a couple of places at Steel City,” said Davalos. “But I’m excited to be here for the team. It’s my last race with them, and I’m just enjoying hanging out and spending time with them. It’s been an up-and-down kind of year and I can’t thank the Rockstar Energy Racing team enough for being supportive during these tough times.”

In the WMX class, Rockstar’s Jessica Patterson rebounded from a mid-week foot injury to finish the season with a very impressive third in the overall championship points. At Elsinore, she finished fourth in the first moto, but tweaked her hurt foot in the second and didn’t finish. Despite this, she was still 11th overall for the day.

“This year was really tough for me,” said Patterson. “I had a lot of bad luck with injuries. I tried to make it through this weekend, put the pain out of my mind and focus on the championship. The first moto went OK, but in the second moto, I landed off a jump and it tweaked my bad foot and I had so much pain I couldn’t take it. Overall, it was an awesome year, and I can’t thank the Rockstar Energy Racing team enough. They’ve been really supportive and I wish I could’ve won the championship for them, but we’ll keep working for it.”

Rockstar-sponsored Star Valli Yamaha rider Jeremy Martin continued to turn heads in the 250 class after recently swapping his amateur status for Pro. Martin celebrated a ninth-place overall result, thanks to two 10th-place moto finishes.

“I had a great time at Elsinore,” said Martin. “I went 10/10 for ninth overall and I’m happy with that. I know I have a lot of work to do and I’m looking forward to this off-season. I want to win and I’m going to take all the steps necessary to come out next year and have a really strong, full rookie season.”

Star Valli Yamaha teammate Kyle Cunningham also put in two solid rides in the 250 class, and continues to recover from injuries that caused him to miss much of the 2012 season. Cunningham made more progress at this round, finishing 14th in the first moto and ninth in the second for 11th overall.

“The track was pretty brutal,” said Cunningham. “It got hard-packed and really slick. I just wanted to come out and put in two solid motos. Unfortunately, in the first moto, I just ran out of gas and it was a bit of a bummer. I went back out in the second moto and I was a little fatigued, but I gutted through it and survived. Now I’ll just focus on getting stronger for next year.”

Like Rockstar’s Cunningham, Star Valli Yamaha’s Kyle Peters also missed a number of races due to injury, but made significant progress at the Lake Elsinore National. Peters got good starts and ran in the top 10 before picking up 13th- and 16th-place 250 moto finishes for 16th overall.

“I got one really good start and a pretty good start, but I had some issues,” said Peters. “I had really bad stomach cramps in the second moto and finished 16th. In the first moto, I didn’t feel good until the last few laps, but by then it was too late. Now, I’m ready to regroup and get ready for next year.”

Also racing for the Star Valli Yamaha 250 team was Cole Thompson, who put in a valiant effort but suffered in the intense heat. In the first moto, Thompson got a great start but faded to 12th. In the second, the Rockstar rider succumbed to the high temps and didn’t finish, but still ended up 18th overall for the day.

“In the first moto, I got a good start and was running in the top 10,” said Thompson. “But the heat got to me and I went back to 12th. In the second moto, I got a decent start, but I just started feeling sick and I pulled off and couldn’t finish.”
Finally, Star Valli Yamaha 250 teammate Ryan Sipes tried to race the first moto but wasn’t feeling well and retired for the day before the race’s end.
In the 450 class, Star Valli Yamaha’s Nico Izzi finished the 2012 season with a solid performance. In the first moto, unfortunately, the Rockstar rider went down in a turn-one pile-up and couldn’t rejoin the race. In the second moto, however, Izzi bounced back with a great start and finished an impressive seventh. He wound up 14th overall for the day.

“In the first moto, I was in that turn-one pile-up and broke my throttle housing and I couldn’t finish,” said Izzi. “But I was excited to go out and burn some laps on the new track in the second moto. So I went out and came through the pack, charged my way through to the top 10 and finished it out strong in seventh.”

Star Valli Yamaha teammate Bobby Kiniry also had a good showing in the 450 class despite some bad luck. In the first moto, Kiniry suffered several get-offs and didn’t finish the moto. In the second race, he got a good start but fell again. In spite of this, he still managed to rally and finish 15th in the second moto and 20th overall.

“All in all, it was an OK day,” said Kiniry. “In the first moto, I got a good start but I fell in that big turn-one pile-up. But I got back on my bike and got up to 21st pretty quick. Then I ended up falling again and twisting my leg pretty good and bending my bike up, so I went back to the truck to regroup. I went out for the second moto and got a great start and was trying to move up when I fell on my face and had to start from dead last again. But I worked my way up to 15th on the last lap and I can’t complain about that.”

Finally, Star Valli Yamaha welcomed an additional rider to their Rockstar fold this weekend, 450 class racer Scott Champion. Champion raced to 26th- and 21st-place moto finishes for an overall result of 28th for the day.

“This opportunity was a last-minute deal,” said Champion. “We put this thing together and I came out to race Elsinore just to have some fun and so the team could see where I was at. I had a lot of fun and I appreciate the opportunity to race with the Star Valli Yamaha team.”
Rockstar athletes Hunter Hewitt, Gareth Swanepoel, Tommy Weeck, Nick Wey and Brett Metcalfe did not race at the season-ending round due to illness and injury.

Team Honda Gariboldi Esta’s Max Anstie has steered his CRF 250R to podium success at the Grand Prix of Benelux in Lierop, The Netherlands today by taking the team’s first rostrum, and his first top three Honda finish for round 14 of the MX2 World Championship.

After many ups and downs throughout this inaugural season for the team, 19-year-old Anstie put on a fine display of pace in the challenging Lierop sand throughout the weekend, as he recovered from 14th at the end of lap one in yesterday’s qualifying to 10th position at the end of the 20-minute plus two-lap moto.

In the opening Grand Prix race of today Anstie got one of his best starts of the year and was fifth at the end of lap one. The Honda pilot made good progress throughout the moto and with a strong rhythm he managed to make a pass on fourth placed Tommy Searle in lap three, before putting tremendous pressure on Dylan Ferrandis, who crashed soon after. Anstie went on to take a top three finish as he battled the rough sand of Lierop and was determined to repeat his performance in the second heat.

In race two the British rider didn’t get such a good start as he took up eighth place, but the Honda racer put his head down and progressed through the field in the opening stages. On lap six of the 35-minute plus two-lap moto Anstie passed Searle again to take up third position, where he remained with a strong ride in incredibly tough conditions for a fantastic third overall, putting the CRF 250R on the podium for the first time since 2009. Anstie’s teammate Aleksandr Tonkov enjoyed an 11th place overall finish.

Max Anstie #6: 3rd overall
“Everyone knows the sand is really tough and we didn’t have any issues throughout the weekend, so everything was quite smooth, which helps us produce this kind of result. I believed before the race that if the pieces of the puzzle fell together, then we’d be on the podium this weekend, which is what we’ve achieved. I’m strong and I felt good, so by being smooth and not making any mistakes we made a lot of progress. I think that’s the key this weekend; in the first moto I timed the start perfectly and I was inside the top ten, which was good. I passed a load of guys and I got right in there, so I wanted to repeat that in the second moto. I knew people would be feeling it, and making mistakes, so I was happy I could ride strong and everything went well. I can’t thank the team enough; Giacomo especially, and of course Scott (Sepkovic) from ARMA Energy, who flew right over from the USA to see us. Maybe he was my good luck charm, but it’s been a good weekend and we will just keep aiming for these results, especially in Italy next week where it is the home round for the team.”

Giacomo Gariboldi: Honda Gariboldi Esta Team Owner
“I think it’s taken us many GP’s to get here, but this was always the goal of the team; for us to be on the podium with the CRF 250R. Max did a great job today riding unbelievably well, and we are all delighted because we’ve really worked so much during the season. We’ve had some problems, which can happen when everything is new, but to be here on the podium has been our main goal. Before the end of the year I’d like for us to try to take another podium because Max really deserves it with the effort he has put in. Aleksandr crashed heavily in warm-up, but he can be around top ten each race and is improving week-by-week, so going into next year he is really getting there. With regards to the Motocross of Nations we are really excited that both riders will take part. For Max today will have certainly been a big confidence boost for him mentally, although some people have doubted him, and I am sure he rode with something more here to show his capabilities.”

1. Glorious Weather. Either someone at the ACU has a very good knack at predicting the weather of they’ve been very lucky. Every single round has been bathed in sun, whilst across the UK major and minor sporting fixtures and events have been blighted and forced to cancel due to the appalling rain. Yet again Hawkstone was bathed in glorious sun, and even if there was a short burst of rain, they were over as quickly as they started and served to damp down the dust. Summer Motocross like back in the day!

Dusty ice cream cones – lovely

2. Tough Track. Unlike some of the more hand crafted tracks in the series, such as FatCat or Milton Park, Hawkstone has big landscapes and natural contours. Added into this mix are the big jumps and hits on the bottom part of the circuit, the deep and unforgiving sand and you have a seriously tough ‘old skool’ circuit, With the extremely dry surface contributing to the difficulty, the days racing took prisoners left right and centre. There were multiple pile ups, individual crashes, bike failures, rider incidents – it was all going off! They’d even introduced a new chicane on the way down the big hill. If you wanted to know just how tough, just ask Jordan Booker who took a huge tumble down this section and did a passable impression of a rag doll being thrown over a cliff! Hardcore.

Luke Hawkins took a big start straight tumble in moto 2…

3. Crowds? Whilst everything was in place for the racing, the crowds were a bit disappointing for a British Championship round, and far below the levels of the International meeting at the start of the season. Those that were there were enthusiastic, but it does seem the ACU are relying the faithful few rather than attracting new audiences. But saying that families are now on their summer holidays. We also noticed a serious lack of signage on the way from Telford to the circuit. Would it be unreasonable to expect some way of catching families out for the day looking for something to do? Even the entrance into the track had just one A4 flyer tied to a hedge – you could have driven past it. Many probably did….

The crowd wasn’t small but could have been bigger without a doubt

4. Start Line Dramas. OK so many of you may have seen this on AAA video footage, but if not here’s a little run down. At the start of the first MX2 race all the riders are busy prepping their start gates on the concrete. It’s part practical, part psychological, but very much part of race preparation. Just as they were putting the final touches to their positions, an unnamed club official (not ACU) came along and proceeded to brush all the dirt from the front of the gate all over their prepared positions. Riders, journos and even the ACU official stood by open mouthed at this, before many of the riders told the guy to stop and sling his hook. Did this work – No – he just continued and nearly came to blows with the riders that were objecting. Unreal.

The exact moment when the guy shoved James Cottrell out of the way…riders look on in amazement

5. Bipolar Bear. Hawkestone saw yet another hot and cold performance from the mercurial Nico Aubin. One minute he was busting enormous jumps on the lower section (watch the amazing video here), the next he was heading to the pits before the racing was done. Nico smashed super pole by nearly a second from Pocock, got third in race one and outright won race 2. Then he failed to even finish the final moto, heading for the pits after ending up at the back of the pack from an incident. Maybe his name should be pronounced ‘Or Bin’ as that seems the only option to finishing at the pointy end!

Aubin debuting the brand new 2013 One Industries kit

6. Dorren Dorren. PAR Hondas rookie Dorren Coutts was on fire (or maybe it should be ‘Hungry like the Wolf?)on Sunday, running 4th in qualifying, second in super pole and 5th in Race 1. A fuel problem in race two dropped him back from a similar place to a disappointing fourteenth come the chequers, but no doubt without the problem he would have kept in the top five. Race three was not quite as good, but his improvement each round is plain to see. With a bit of luck, Coutts could hit the podium in the last two rounds. With Sterry, Watson, Watson and Anstie having strong days, it was all smiles in the PAR camp, except maybe for Whatley who got bashed up on Race 2 after a good first race and not going out for the final.

With PAR disappearing from the scene at the end of the year, where is Dorren going to end up?

7. No luck except Bad Luck. Whilst others on the orange bikes seem to be doing just fine in the championship, the black cloud of misfortune seems to hang over Elliott Banks Brown this season like a hungry vulture. Early in the season his bike was as reliable as a taxi controller’s promise, but for a brief while this had been sorted. However like the Hawkstone International, EBBs bike went pop in the very first moto to rob him of his front running position and maybe even his title hopes. Frustration was hardly the word in the HM awning, and with Pocock now ahead again, it’s going to take miracle for EBB or disasters for Pocock to prevent a third Dixon title on the bounce.

Rumours around the paddock is EBB could be riding red in 2013, maybe Buildbase Honda

8. Magic Mel. Pocock has been the star of the show this year, and save for a bad day in Milton, has been on his game all season. No doubt buoyed up from his blistering form and multiple wins in EMX2, Dixons third wheel – promoted to ‘only wheel’ –is just a pleasure to watch. Oozing confidence and riding with a maturity that the international experience brings, Pocock is pure class on the track. Yet compared to EBB, Mel has only 4 wins this year compared to the KTM pilots seven and undoubtedly No119 has been the main benefactor of the orange bikes temperamental engine. At this point, the championship is his to lose.

The red plate is back with the red head

9. Untouchable Strijbos. HM Plants top guy shows no sign of slackening off despite his 49 point cushion over Shaun Simpson. Try as they might, now Karro is on the sick bench, none of the regular MX1 riders have anything to challenge him, and his success in the British Championship is being mirrored by big scores and podiums on the world stage. Roger Magee made a very shrewd move in signing the quiet spoken Belgian and seems almost certain to get the MX1 title for 2012. Whether he can hold onto him for 2013 is another thing as Strijbos certainly has enough in his tank for a full factory GP ride next year.

Strijbos is a class act right from the gate

10. Max Attacks. In what was a fairly unexpected wild card ride, Gariboldi Honda’s MX2 rider and ever happy Max Anstie was at Hawkstone riding for the PAR team. Manager Neil Prince had leant Max a completely bog standard, (and to be honest fairly shagged) CRF450. The machine was Dorren Coutts second practice bike, with not even so much as a sponsor’s sticker on it, let alone a graphics kit. Despite this, Max was all over the MX1 class like a rash, clocking a 3 / 2 / 2 positions to give himself an overall second on his very first MX1 outing. He was literally jaw droppingly smooth and fast – even leading much of the third race before Strijbos reeled him in.

But there was a bigger reason for Max’s appearance – that being a certain event in Lommel in a couple of months’ time. With Tommy and Jake fairly strong bets for the Nations team, the third spot is very much up for grabs and clearly Max fancies a place on the squad. And with form like Sunday, he certainly did himself a few favours – ride like that in the sand at the MXoN rather than Hawkstone and Great Britain has a genuine chance of at least a podium. How Shaun Simpson felt about this was as clear as the nose on his face…….

Amazing stuff from mighty Max but still needs to prove himself for a MXoN place..we will find out soon enough who is in and who misses out

So there we go, Round 6 all done and two to go. The penultimate helping of the spicy soup that is the Maxxis British Motocross Championship is being served at the rather marvellous Langrish circuit in Hampshire on August Banks Holiday Monday. Sounds like a date for the diary.

Words by Julian Challis
Images by Ray Chuss

But these aside, let’s look at the two classes and how things are panning out as we go into Round 11 of the title race.

MX1
As expected and indeed predicted right here a week ago, the red plate didn’t stay off bike number 222 for very long. António came back from his twin DNF shocker in Sweden to fire off two perfect scores that catapulted him back over Suzuki’s Clement Desalle and back to the top. Cairoli is probably one of the only riders in MX1 that could be expected and indeed able to do this. The KTM rider is back to 12 points ahead and isn’t going to want any more slip ups in Russia. Desalle is still 23 points ahead of Pourcel but needs to keep his head down and concentrate on Cairoli if he’s any hope of getting the lead again. Low scores in Latvia came exactly when he did not need them, and if he’s not careful, CP377 will steal the second spot away. Latvia saw a complete KTM podium, and DeDycker and Strijbos will be hoping to repeat the same in Semigorje as they now sit 5th and 6th in the table – who would have predicted that this time last year.

Prediction will be wins for Cairoli and Pourcel with 222 getting the overall.

MX2
Just as Latvia restored the MX1 to its expected order, the MX2 class saw an absolute disaster for the hopes that Tommy could get close enough to Herlings points total to steal the MX2 title in the last part of the season. In the space of 1 moto, it looks like Searle’s title chase went up with the steam shooting out of his Kawasaki’s radiator. It would be easier to bear if TS had screwed things up himself, but a mechanical on arguably one of the strongest motors in the paddock is almost too cruel to bear.
Herlings is now forty one points ahead of Searle and now has a bit of a cushion to take off the pressure for a bit. In fact, Tommy needs to worry about van Horebeek who is now only twelve points behind! Not much change in the order below, and despite our urging, Jake still can’t get above Jordi Tixier to take 5th place, lets hope this weekend Jake finally finishes on the podium and Anstie still sits just behind like an enthusiastic pillion passenger.

But let’s not lose hope here – Cairoli had a fifty plus lead and DNF’d two in Sweden and lost it to one small stone and a ton of mud.

As you might have guessed, last time we were struggling to recommend a Latvian drink, but this year we are on safer ground. If you are not braving the KGB and the Mafia to get to Russia this weekend, get you mates round, plug the laptop into the widescreen, get the Vodka shots going and watch it all on Moto right here.

Sunday began with good omens for the Italian rider who was able to set a promising ninth place in the warm up in the morning. In the first heat Alex secured his 15th position through the first corner and the first laps of the race, he was even able to climb up the rankings to tenth position. Sadly in the twelfth lap a loss of concentration dropped him down a couple of positions which he was not able to gain back. At the end of race one “Lupo” passed the checkered flag in twelfth place.

In the break between the first and second heat heavy rain made the track almost for heat 2. In the big wave of mud caused by the starting riders, Lupino found himself around the tenth position after the first lap. With some ups and downs he was able to keep this position until the finish line. The twenty points Alex earned in the two heats put him into the twelfth position overall in the MX2 class of the Latvian GP.

In the overall Championship standings Lupino defends his tenth position and the small gap to the riders ahead of him makes the team optimistic for the rest of the season.

“It was not an exhilarating day and I was hoping to do much better. The first ten minutes in the first heat I rode well, but then I lost the rhythm and I could not keep a good speed. In the second one, I really missed the feeling with the track which was significantly worsened. I hope to do better next Sunday in Russia.”

 

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Not so good news this morning coming in from Germany and the Factory KTM camp. Max Nagl will leave KTM at the end of the season after being told by Stefan Everts last Thursday that he has no place in the team in 2013. Max must be gutted as the 24 year old German rider has been a KTM stalwart for 5 years.

Max Nagl: “I was totally surprised by the news. With my comeback, I wanted to recommend me for the coming year at KTM. I must accept the decision. Nevertheless, I would like to thank KTM for the past five years in the factory team. It was a great time with ups and downs and of course my wonderful success, the vice-championship title 2009th I’ll be the next race where I start, of course, everything we ran to me to recommend a factory team for 2013.”

Monster Energy Yamaha saw Shaun Simpson battle for a podium position and record his highest finish of fifth overall in just his second season in the premier MX1-GP class at an overcast and rain-hit Uddevalla for the Grand Prix of Sweden. 22,000 spectators came to the ninth round of sixteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship and the furthest trip north in Europe for the series. The Swedish dirt was slippery and difficult to attack after inclement weather through the weekend but Simpson was able to shine in the conditions.

The Briton was drafted into the Rinaldi-led section of the team to steer the full factory YZ450FM vacated by Steven Frossard in the wake of the 11 championship runner-ups recent knee operation. The former British Champion and reigning Belgian Champion made a bright start by fighting for third position in Saturdays qualification heat and equalled a career-best fourth place at the flag. It was a sign of the speed to come.

On Sunday he followed team-mate David Philippaerts in fifth position for half of the moto. The Italian suffered a crash over the rutted table-top jump in the middle of the track and the impact unfortunately led to an initial diagnosis of fractures to the wrists he broke last summer. The former world champion went to hospital to have further scans and an indication to the full extent of the damage. Another examination will take place in Italy tomorrow. Simpsons subsequent fourth position represented brighter news for the team and the Scots highest MX1 race finish to-date.

In the second moto the 24 year old made a great start and his form on the drying and technical course placed him in firm contention for a maiden MX1 podium finish. It was while 24 was in third spot that he hit a long rutted section of the track in a different gear and briefly slipped to the ground. He quickly remounted and held fifth position for the rest of the moto to secure the same ranking overall.

Monster Energy Yamaha now have another brief respite from the spotlight of the FIM World Championship before facing journeys to Latvia and Russia on July 15th and 22nd.

Shaun Simpson:

What can I say? Coming into this weekend I guess it was a bit of a surprise that I switched awnings but it was a move that suited everyone. Unfortunately David got injured today so it looks like Im the only rider at the moment on the YZ450FM. From my side it was easy to come over and Fred has done a great job getting the bike ready for me. I feel comfortable, fast and safe. I dont think I could have expected much more from today. Almost a podium and Strijbos was riding very strongly in the second moto but to come away with a 4-5 was good enough and I was riding well enough to deserve it. Im looking forward to the rest of the season and this is something really good to build on. I made a good start in the second moto and thought can I hold it? and before I knew it I was pulling away with the top two and I said right, lets get stuck into them but I think it will take me a couple of weekends to get back into that mindset of running with the leaders. I was racing out there with a smile on my face.