Team Motorex KTM took in a bit of cross training last weekend when Australian Pro Open Supercross Champion Jay Marmont tried his hand at Supermoto. This exciting hybrid sport sees riders on motocross bikes shod with road race tyres slide around at amazing lean angles on a circuit combining tight tarmac along with hard packed dirt sections and jumps.

Jay took to the new discipline like a duck to water aboard a 450SX KTM fitted out with some of the Supermoto accessories found in the KTM Hard Equipment catalogue. Items in the Hard Equipment catalogue can be ordered from any KTM dealer and allow the man on the street to further extend the capabilities of their machine.

Jay enjoyed the experience, “It was something new today for sure. I had done a couple of practice days but was a bit dumbfounded by it all to be honest. The road race guys were really fast when we practiced out at Oran Park and I thought I could be in for a roasting.

“But as soon as I arrived at the tennis centre and saw the layout I thought yeah this is much more like street racing. I was confident that the track was going to suit me fine.

“My laptimes got better and better all day as I worked it out. I took two podium finishes in the S2 races but finished second in the premier event, the All Powers Final. In that race I managed to close on Stuart (Bennett) a couple of times only for him to pull away again each time. I made a small mistake on one of the dirt sections and lost the front, that allowed him to escape and I couldn’t close him down.

“But I was very happy with second overall from my first ever Supermoto event. It took my mind off racing for a weekend and it was great fun to have a play in this format. I am sure I will get to do some more supermoto racing at some stage. I didn’t go too bad here, but next time I will try and get out there and win.”

Jay’s focus has now switched back to his immediate #1 task at hand and that is to extend his position as the leading Australian in the 2004 Australian Motocross Championship which continues this weekend at Newcastle.

The winning man on the day in Sydney though was KTM Enduro specialist Stuart Bennett. He has become somewhat of a Supermoto specialist after taking out the inaugural Australian S1 Supermoto Championship last year. For 2004 Bennett has switched to smaller 450cc machinery. This year the 450cc class will be the premier class of Supermoto racing in Australia which is the reason behind Bennett’s switch.

Bennett’s first competitive outing on the smaller 450 machine came in Queensland earlier this year in the Qld State Championship. Bennett had good success there on an enduro based machine but for last weekend’s event he had a more serious 450 SX at his disposal. This 2004 machine benefited from frame modifications to provide a similar level of rigidity found on the new 2005 KTM range as standard.

Bennett used the new specification machine to good effect in Sydney to take two second places in the S2 challenge races before going on to top a star studded field in the All Powers Challenge, the premier race of the event.

“The 450 is not that much slower than the larger machine I rode last year. In fact it probably knocks you around even more, and is perhaps a little physically harder. I would also say that is a more fun motorcycle to ride, maybe because of those aforementioned traits.” Reflected Bennett after taking out the win.

While Bennett is the reigning Australian Supermoto Champion his traditional role within the racing activities of KTM Australia are to bring home the trophies in enduro racing. In recent years he has certainly done much of that with multiple Australian Enduro Championships under his belt.

Bennett’s eyes are now on an even bigger prize however. He is entering his final stages of preparation to compete in the highest profile enduro event in the world, the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE). Bennett will fly to Poland early in September to represent Australia at the ISDE.

In recent times Rob Twyerould has been very busy managing Team Motorex KTM. Rob oversees all KTM’s factory backed racing efforts in Australia but many sometimes forget that he can still twist a throttle with the best of them when the opportunity arises. He proved that fact again when he won the S1 class at the Sydney Supermoto Spectacular to round out the KTM domination of the event.

“A great day and hopefully we can have some more events of this type near the major cities.

“We had a good team bonding day today in a far more relaxed atmosphere than we normally approach the Australian Championship events, where of course any mistake is very costly.

“We still had a red hot go though and brought home the bacon with Stuart (Bennett) and Jay (Marmont) bringing home an excellent 1-2 result in the premier All Powers event. I managed to take out the overall win on the day in the S1 class also which put the cream on top to complete a very successful day for KTM.”

While Bennett and Marmont were aboard 450cc machines, Twyerould did a thorough raid on the KTM Hard Equipment catalogue to prepare a big bore machine for the S1 class.

In standard trim the 525 SX KTM has scooped countless awards in the motorcycle press where it is consistently named the best big bore four-stroke available.

With that sort of basis to work from it is hard to go wrong. But to make the best event better only takes a browse through KTM’s Hard Equipment catalogue. Here any man on the street can order all the hard core race gear used by the factory team. Rob selected the optional six speed gearbox, supermoto wheels and supermoto specification suspension components. In the engine room a 540 big bore kit was installed which along with the optional stroker kit ups the standard 510.4cc capacity to an awe inspiring 576cc.

Of course with that sort of go any rider needs some substantial whoa to slow the stampede. Here the optional KTM Supermoto braking system kept the show under control.

Twirling spanners for the successful KTM triumvirate on the weekend was current Australian Pro Lite Supercross Champion Ryan Marmont. Ryan is currently nursing an elbow injury which has troubled him in his Australian Motocross campaign this year. The affable teenager didn’t let that stop him from working hard in the pits at the supermoto event to help out his fellow KTM riders in their quest for success in an impressive display of team spirit.

This weekend Team Motorex KTM will contest the penultimate round of the 2004 Australian Motocross Championships in Newcastle (NSW).