Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

The Yamalube Yamaha Racing line up will remain unchanged for the 2019 season with Jay Wilson and Richie Evans back to headline the team for the motocross and supercross season.

But there will be a change in the classes the team will contest with Wilson staying on board the Yamaha YZ250F in the MX2 class, while Evans will make the leap to the MX1 division and be mounted on a Yamaha YZ450F.

The move to the MX1 class isn’t a first for Evans, who competed on a 450 back in 2016, winning the Queensland Motocross Championship and showing he has plenty of skill on the high powered machines.

Evans has the size, skill and experience to tame the fire breathing machines and is excited by the new challenge ahead of him. His style of riding and racing are also well suited to the bigger bikes and having him in the premier MX1 category will give Yamaha a strong presence in the premier division of racing.

“When the team first approached me about racing a 450 in 2019, I wasn’t sure what to make of it as I feel there was still some results I could achieve on the 250 in MX2 but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it and now I’m 100% on board.

“It’s also good to be back with the same team and sponsors again for 2019. We all get along well, and the guys work hard to its good to go racing knowing everything has been done and my job is simply to ride fast.

“In the MX2 class, most of the riders run a high revving, let it all hang out style which really isn’t the way I ride and the more powerful motor of the 450 suits where I ride the bike in the power range. It’s also a chance to challenge myself against the best riders in Australia. I just need to look at what my brother Mitch was able to do in the MX1 class with some hard work. I saw what he achieved at close range and although he has set the family bar high, I hope to keep the Evans name up there in the MX1 class.”

Jay Wilson, the reigning Australian SX2 Supercross champion, will continue on board his much loved 2019 Yamaha YZ250F. Wilson finished fourth in the MX Nationals, finishing the final few rounds in a blaze of glory before taking the Supercross championship in an eventful night at the AUS-X Open.

The only major change in Wilson’s program for 2019 is that he will have a pre-season here in Australia and not race the NZ Nationals as he has done in previous years. With a long season in Australia, stretching all the way from a pre-season event in January to the final round of SX in late November, the extra time to rest and recover while be of benefit to Wilson as he chases more championship success.

“2018 was a great season for me and more importantly, I have found a good balance in my life between racing, coaching and my family life,” says a mature Wilson.” I love all aspects of my life and the beauty of racing with the Yamalube Yamaha team is that I don’t have to worry about things as they have everything sorted and make racing fun.

“To win the supercross championship was a goal of mine and it was an emotional night all round but that’s in the past now and we have two championships to focus on this year and obviously the goal is to win them both. MX2 is always a tough class and there are plenty of great riders again this year but I’m setting my goals high, putting in the work and looking for a better season in 2019.

“The other advantage I have is that we already have logged plenty of time on the 2019 YZ250F and have a set-up we know will be competitive. I’m sure the team will continue to develop the bike and I feel confident we will be in a good place come round one,” Wilson ends.