Yamaha Racing is ready for round two of the Australian Supercross Championships at the Wayville Showgrounds in Adelaide on Saturday night.
CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team
Aaron Tanti is riding a wave of career best form and heads into round two full of confidence after an impressive second place finish in Melbourne last week. Tanti was the lead Australian rider at the opening round after an enthralling battle with US import Justin Brayton and is looking to go one better in South Australia.
“I was able to lead a lot of the main event last week and I think I can take some confidence that my speed is good,” Tanti explains. “I feel like I lost some composure at a few points last week and I can learn from that to stay calm and in the moment.”
“The plan is to improve again this weekend and keep fighting to the end. It’s a four round championship so every race matters,” Tanti said.
With Luke Clout side-lined with a thumb injury, the CDR Yamaha team have enlisted Josh Hill to stay on another week and fly the flag for the team this weekend in Adelaide. Hill has spent plenty of time in Australia before and has achieved significant results in the past with CDR and combined with Tanti, the CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team will have plenty of star power in the premier SX1 class.
Serco Yamaha
The Serco Yamaha team is fresh off a podium finish in Melbourne with Cole Thompson guiding his YZ250F to a second-place finish in the SX2 class. For Thompson, there was a lot to take away from the event as it was his first race in Australia and also with the Serco Yamaha team.
The Canadian rider is enjoying his time in Australia and desperately wants to return home with some race wins and an Australian Championship under his belt.
“It was good to get the series under way and get some racing in as it had been a while since I have been behind the start gate. I wasn’t pumped on my riding and felt I have room for improvement so hopefully this weekend, I can take the next step forward and see if I can get the Serco Yamaha on top of the box,” Thompson offers.
Joining him will be young Queenslander, Brad West. West will leap on the seat left vacant by Bailey Mailkiewicz who suffered an ankle injury at the opening round. West has had plenty of supercross experience for his age and spent considerable time in the US riding and training with some of the best in the sport.
Yamalube Yamaha Racing
It was a frustrating start to the season for the Yamalube Yamaha Racing team riders at round one with Rhys Budd coming home in sixth place and Jayce Cosford in thirteenth. Budd admits it wasn’t his best performance last week but is determined to get his championship hopes back on track this weekend and be challenging for podium positions.
“I struggled in the main event in Melbourne and didn’t ride my best, so I really want to redeem myself this week and get back in the battle. Despite the tough night, I was able to come out of Melbourne healthy and with some decent points, so it’s time to capitalise on it and make up some ground this weekend, in Adelaide.”
Jayce Cosford showed he had plenty of speed in Melbourne after qualifying inside the top five, but luck deserted him come race time with crashes and incidents marring his night. He was well placed in the final, but a rider fell directly in front of him, causing him to fall as well and he was instantly at the tail end of the field.
This weekend is about turning that speed into a result and Cosford is wanting to mix it up with the best in the SX2 field come Saturday Night.
WBR Yamaha
The WBR Yamaha team didn’t miss the injury onslaught as Connor Tierney went down early in the night and will be out for the series. There is no replacement for Tierney at this stage. It was left to Jy Roberts to keep the WBR dream alive, and he raced to an eighth-place finish on the night. For Roberts, it was his first major race on Australian soil in some time and he is satisfied with how his night went.
“Overall, the weekend in Melbourne was okay for me as I had to shake off the rust, so to speak. But I’m glad I got through that one and feel more at ease heading into this weekend. The goal is to get better each round so I think a top five finish is next on my list and hoping to get that done in Adelaide.”
Yamalube Mechanics Experience
Also running this weekend is the Yamalube Mechanic experience that sees four dealer-based mechanics join our four race teams to gain valuable knowledge and experience to take back to their dealerships. The program kicked off at the Coolum round of the ProMX championships and was exceptionally well received with the techs enjoying the day and taking on plenty of racing knowledge.
The weekend our guest Yamalube race technicians for the day are: Sam Butler and Ciaran Radcliffe from the Yamaha World dealership, Tim Dowbnia from Yamaha Pitmans and Scott McCue from Bridgeland Motorcycles.
