In comparison to most young Australian racers, Jackson Richardson’s professional career to date has been quite unique as he opted to make the move directly to the American racing scene at a young age. Following multiple seasons contesting the US supercross and motocross circuit, Richardson returned to Australia last year and captured the 2016 Australian Supercross Championship with the Serco Yamaha team before locking in a deal with the factory-backed squad for the entire 2017 season. For this latest edition of Fast Thoughts, MotoOnline.com.au caught up with the Cairns-based rider to hit him with a selection of questions as he gears up for the year ahead.

Image: Greg Smith (iKapture).

Returning to Australia full-time for 2017…

I’m pumped on it, I’m happy to be back in Australia and I’m happy to be back home for the year. I mean, I’m hoping that something comes about in America for next year if I have a good year this year, but for the most part I’m just glad to be home. I’ve spent the majority of the last four years over there, so it’s a good change and I’m enjoying it for sure.

Your outdoor expectations…

Obviously the long-term goal is to win the championship, that’s what I’m here for and that’s what I believe I can do. The main thing for me is to be consistent and be on the box every weekend, winning every round would be good, but that’s also a long shot. Just being consistent and getting it on the box every weekend, that would be the goal.

Being part of the Serco Yamaha team…

It’s been really good, we’ve been putting in a lot of work with the bike, so I’m happy with how things are going and I feel like we’ve got a pretty good setup right now. I’m feeling good on the bike as well, so it’s all going well so far, we did the Toowoomba event on the weekend and I felt like I did pretty well there. We had a good result, I mean, it was always going to be tough against the 450s, but I felt like I held my own in the motos. There’s still a few things I have to work on with my riding before the first round just to be a little better and hopefully put me on top.

Image: Greg Smith (iKapture).

Being teamed up with your cousin Mitch Evans…

We get into each other a lot and we’re real competitive against each other, so it’s good. We’re pushing each other and we’re always giving it to each other at the track, joking around about who’s better and who’s going to beat who, so it keeps us all motivated, which is really good. We’re competitive with each other at the races and then also during the week when we’re training together up here in Cairns, so it’s good that we’re always pushing each other and making each other better.

Creating social media videos…

I’m definitely no pro on the editing game, I like to think I am [laughs], but I go okay and I’m definitely not that great. It’s just something that I like to do, if I can’t make videos of myself riding, I like to just get out there and watch my mates ride then make some edits of them. It’s all about creating your own brand for yourself and keeping your fans up to date with what’s going on. I like to split it down the middle and go half serious doing the stuff for your sponsors, race reports and keeping people up to date. Then there’s the other stuff that keeps it fun and makes it look like you’re not so serious all the time.