Gates dropped on the 2026 Boost Mobile AUSX Supercross Championship in Townsville on Saturday night, where Queensland Country Bank Stadium produced an exhilarating opening night of competition. In this edition of Q&A, MotoOnline looks at the primary takeaways from round one.

Image: Foremost Media.

Q: Can Christian Craig be challenged after dominating the opener?

A: It was an impressive AUSX opener for Christian Craig in Townsville, who topped every session except superpole to announce himself as the SX1 rider to beat in 2026. It’ll be a tall order for anyone to get in the mix – outside of Ken Roczen and Jo Shimoda’s select appearances – with Luke Clout, as is usually the case at this time of year, next in line. Craig is of the calibre of Joey Savatgy and Dean Wilson, so for Honda Racing, the experienced Californian represents an almost plug-and-play option for title success in the absence of those two.

Q: Are Luke Clout and Cedric Soubeyras already better on their new teams?

A: Clout was very happy with his KTM 450 SX-F, even without the full KTM Racing Team set-up present at round one of AUSX, with P1 in superpole, a come-from-behind fourth in race one and second in race two resulting in the runner-up overall. He also left round one at Redcliffe last year with P2, so on paper the result is effectively the same, but he visually looked a little more solid aboard the KTM. For him, it’s all about consistency, and we’ll see if he can string it all together in 2026. As for Soubeyras, he was strong in his Penrite Racing Empire Kawasaki debut, but was he better? We’d say he was much the same – the French journeyman is rock solid at supercross and seems to be able to get up to speed pretty quickly regardless of the machine.

Image: Foremost Media.

Q: Should we expect more from Cameron McAdoo at Honda as the season unfolds?

A: Yes, purely due to the limited time he has had on the Honda CRF250R, having only completed a shakedown days before the Townsville gate-drop. He spent seven seasons with Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki at home, so it’s reasonable to expect that he’ll need a little more time to get comfortable with the Quad Lock Honda package. It was a hectic night for most in SX2, so given the circumstances, fifth overall is fine, and he remains well in contention for the title as he continues to make performance gains throughout the series. On paper, he could still very well be the odds-on favourite.

Q: Could the factory Starks actually challenge for an AUSX championship in 2026?

A: It appears so! Say what you want, but the VARG is competitive and seems to extract the best from Michael Hicks, Jorge Zaragoza and Brian Hsu, in particular – while experienced American Vince Friese is still finding his true form on the electric bike, switching back and forth between combustion power back home. Either way, someone like Hicks certainly looks capable of challenging for the title, given he actually won the SX2 overall on track before a five-position post-race penalty relegated him to third, and even Zaragoza was fourth on debut in SX1. Their starts were excellent, the platform is improving across all areas of supercross, and at this point, it looks more than capable of fighting for an AUSX championship, but it won’t be simple.

Image: Foremost Media.

Q: Why did the Joe Rascal Racing Ducatis of Dylan Wills and Matt Moss sit out?

A: It was a tough debut for Joe Rascal Racing’s Desmo450 MX pairing, with Wills and Moss both leaving round one without points. Wills’ day was marred by a couple of early incidents, while it is understood that a lack of parts to repair the Ducati – combined with a minor wrist injury – ultimately left him sidelined for the night show. Moss did manage to record the fourth-fastest SX1 time in superpole, before a crash in race one left him with a dislocated shoulder and forced him to park the second Rascal entry for the evening. Again, a tough start, so let’s scratch this one from memory and treat Auckland as the Brett Metcalfe-managed team’s true debut. But hey, they dominated the AUSX Holeshot Challenge downtown on Friday night… so that’s something.

Q: What are the chances of Max Anstie completing the entire AUSX season?

A: They’re certainly a lot higher now, with news arriving that the 2026 World Supercross Championship season has collapsed entirely. It leaves the experienced Briton looking for somewhere to race, with AUSX presenting the ideal substitute. While the AUSX opener didn’t unfold exactly as planned with a race one DNF, he’s good enough to claw his way back into the points, so we’ll see if a deal materialises for Anstie ahead of Auckland for the ensuing rounds – the team’s search for funding has begun, so we expect to see him there. Even better, why not bring Rick Ware Racing and ‘off-season’ teammate Cooper Webb along to AUSX with him?

Q: How is the initial response from privateers based on their heightened support?

A: While AUSX has introduced a range of initiatives designed to support privateer competitors in 2026, the field was somewhat light-on in Townsville, with six actual privateers noted in SX1 and seven in SX2. With the privateer championship requiring riders to contest all five rounds to remain eligible for a share of the financial prize pool of over $40,000 – and we’re not certain who exactly is eligible at this point, if you factor in the satellite-type teams – there are a select few riders who will be in position to cash in at season’s end. That’s of unprecedented value for these self-funded racers and you can understand that they’d be stoked on the outcome, but with the enhanced incentives on offer, we still would have expected to see an even greater privateer involvement. Maybe the series footprint is just too much to handle in its entirety and we will see more at one-off rounds along the way.