It is a bit of an Australian day here at MXlarge today, with interviews with Kyle Webster and Nathan Crawford (although he is suddenly a kiwi), and a vlog from Hunter Lawrence from the last round of the AMA Nationals.

Australia has long been a strong motocross country, and while they are yet to win the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations or a World motocross championship, this year might be their best shot, with the Lawrence brothers and Kyle Webster all World class riders (as Webster showed with his AMA motocross results this year) to at least win the MXoN.

The fact an Australian Grand Prix is happening in Darwin next year and there will be Australian wild card riders at the MXGP of China in a months time, it is really exciting times for the Australian motocross fans and riders. Not to mention the Lawrence brothers, who have set the World on-fire in America, with Jett the current AMA motocross and AMA supercross champion in the 450 class and Hunter the current AMA 250 motocross champion. Yes, Australia owns AMA racing since their arrival a handful of years ago.

I remember as a kid following motocross and supercross races with my father, who worked for the leading motorcycle magazines at the time. The first ever Australian supercross was from memory at the Parramatta Speedway (my dad was the official track photographer) and it was a raining night in Sydney, with names like Stephen Gall, Anthony Gobert and Swedish rider Pelle Granqvist being the stars.

Many supercross events followed around Australia, with names like Jimmy Ellis, Marty Moates, Jim Holley, Marty Smith, Rex Staten, Mike Bell, Hakan Carlqvist, Jimmy Weinert, Broc Glover, Danny Laporte, Jeremy McGrath, and so many more being regular visitors. McGrath made the trip long before he was Supermac and an American legend.

As a teenager I moved on from being a fan, to working in the media and was fortunate to cover the Mister Motocross series for the leading Australian motorcycle magazine, REVS, a job which saw me travel around the country, also reporting on the Australian motocross and supercross championships. 40 years later, here I am still following the MXGP series and loving the sport as much as ever.

Anyone who knows anything about Australian motocross, well, the Mister Motocross series was born in the early 1970s and was way ahead of its time. It would easily fit into any major international series, with a lot of racing on the day, and the promotion of the sport like something we had never seen before. Run by Vincent Tesoriero, a promoter who really has a vision similar to that of Giuseppe Luongo, who for me, is the greatest promoter the sport has seen. Due to the vision of Tesoriero the sport grew quickly in Australia.

The history of Australian motocross is a long one, but compared to World motocross, the Aussies are still pretty young in the sport. They sent their first MXdN team in 1984, and having a high-profile Grand Prix rider didn’t happen until Jeff Leisk arrived in 1989, finishing second in the World.

A handful of Aussies had ridden GP in the past, Robert Scott being one, Terry Gunter another, but generally, the Australian riders stayed home back in the day, until Leisk opened the door moving to America in the mid-1980s and signing with the Yamaha factory team in 1987. That went sideways with a broken jaw, but his involvement saw more Aussies moving to America to race.

Craig Dack raced the GPs in 1989 but got home sick (like Leisk) and was back home pretty quickly. Both Dack and Glen Bell had some highlight moments racing GPs and Supercross internationals, but never stuck around long enough on the World scene to make their mark. Dack’s fourth place in a moto at the 1986 MXdN at Maggiora, where he finished behind David Bailey, Ricky Johnson and Dave Thorpe is still well remembered by Aussie fans.

The 1990s was slim pickings for Aussies Worldwide, Kim Ashkenazi raced GP, but wasn’t brilliant, despite having enough talent to succeed, but maybe made the move too late. Ashkan also finished on the podium in the West Coast 125cc supercross championship in the 90s. He was good enough to be World class, but it just never worked out.

Of course, in the early 2000s the Grand Prix series moved to Australia and that opened the door for Chad Reed, Andrew McFarlane, Micheal Byrne and Brett Metcalfe. While Reed. McFarlane and Metcalfe took the GP route, Byrne signs with the Jeff Emig team in America. All four had major success, with McFarlane and Reed both winning GPs and both finishing second in the World, while Metcalfe and Byrne were constant top ten guys in USA.

A long list of Aussies moved to America, with the success of Reed and McFarlane, with Reed’s cousin Craig Anderson doing well, even winning an AMA 125cc National from memory, or at least a moto. Reed of course became an AMA 450 motocross and supercross champion and is considered one of the all-time greats of the sport.

Since the Reed era, names like Dean Ferris, Todd Waters, who have had some success on the Grand Prix scene, but it’s been the Lawrence brothers who have taken over and while there are not any major names on the GP scene, these two brothers are showing that the Aussies have what it takes to be the best in the World.

Jett might just be the fastest man on the planet and hopefully, when he lines up against the three best in MXGP, Tim Gajser, Jorge Prado and Jeffrey Herlings, not to mention former AMA supercross champion Chase Sexton, we will find out who is the best of the best.

Wouldn’t it be great to see Australia win the MXoN, and Lawrence dominated. It would be the greatest moment in Australian motocross history and something that has taken 40 years of trying, from that day the Aussies sent Stephen Gall, Vaughn Styles and Trevor Williams and David Armstrong ventured to Varberg, Sweden.