We’re on our way back from another great year at Moto Expo and once again, it’s a credit to the industry to put on such a magnificent show.

From the new bike launches when the gates officially opened at 9:00am Friday, the mega (massive and not-so-big) exhibits, the entertainment and sheer effort that goes in by Troy Bayliss Events, it’s truly enjoyable to attend.

While the new bikes and products are no doubt the centerpiece of the show, the fact that a who’s who of the industry are also in town at once means there’s lots of business that goes down behind the scenes. It’s fascinating in that aspect, however, also what’s a bonus is that many longtime friends are able to catch up along the way.

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

In terms of sportsbikes, Yamaha unveiled its YZF-R6 for the first time locally and it looks absolutely incredible. Modern, sharp and packed with race-type electronics, it’s one of those revolutionary new models that entices you to gear up and go ride. I can see it being a popular bike of choice for racers into the future once it actually arrives.

Of course, the varied type of bikes that are on show can be seen on our partner site, BikeOnline.com.au, which has blown us away in its success this year. As our competition and sportsbike website, CycleOnline.com.au has its place and is tracking along nicely, although there’s clearly a lot of added interest in the broader market of motorcycling. Add in MotoOnline.com.au and we have a great variation of two-wheel platforms.

Next year is shaping up to be a positive one for the sport in Australia. For the first time in a long time, I genuinely feel as though there’s and increased interest in road racing from within the industry. Motorcycling Australia has really succeeded in restoring faith in the Australian Superbike Championship and, hopefully, next year the momentum will begin to escalate.

But we have to work as a team, we have to push the sport forward together and really take advantage of the investments people and companies are tipping into the sport. MA, manufacturers, teams, factory riders, privateers, sponsors and us as media collectively need to do all we can to spread the word about events and everything else that goes on before and afterwards.

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

It is on the right track though, that’s for sure. The more genuine interest that people in management within the industry have, the more likely they will be willing to get behind us all in terms of marketing/sponsorship. And by that I mean when a race is on they are fully aware and when results are taking place, they’re engaged enough to source them. It’d surprise you how many don’t actually follow domestic road racing that closely.

This is the last event we’ll be attending for 2016 and it’s been an epic year of racing and launches, etc. It’s our advertisers who are making it all possible, so thank you to them as always – we’ve grown the traffic by 30 percent year on year. It feels as though the Troy Bayliss Classic was just yesterday, which was the event that got all this underway

Make sure you check out all of CycleOnline.com.au’s social networking channels and be sure to Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for even more behind the scenes insights. Just search CycleOnline.