Once a standout prospect in Australia’s junior motocross ranks, Jack Simpson later elected to take on a career off-road. Now, following three years in the US, he returns to his roots for the 2025 Penrite ProMX Championship after a nine-year hiatus, joining the Winner Triumph Racing Australia Team. This is the story behind his decision.

Image: Foremost Media.

“It’s been 10 years since I raced motocross,” Simpson told MotoOnline. “The reason behind coming back is basically, I’m at the point of my career now where I’ve pretty much accomplished and done everything that I’ve wanted to do.”
Simpson last competed in motocross full-time in 2015, when he finished 10th in the MX2 class of the MX Nationals – since becoming ProMX. The following year, he switched to off-road racing and made an immediate impact, securing the national E1 title in his rookie season of the Australian Enduro Championship (AEC), which was previously AORC.
Alongside his success in enduro, the now 29-year-old Simpson had proven himself in desert competition, winning the 250cc four-stroke category in 2016 and claiming outright podium finishes at the Finke Desert Race in 2018 and 2022 with third-place results.

Simpson also built an impressive track record at the Hattah Desert Race, finishing with multiple outright podiums, including third in 2018, second in 2023 and third again in 2024. But it’s last year’s edition of the famous desert race that stands out above all, as he led much of the race and appeared to be on his way to victory, before issues encountered during his final pit stop saw him forced to settle for P3.

Between 2022 and 2024, the Victorian took his career overseas, racing full-time in the United States. Competing in the National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC) and WORCS Racing, he split his time between SLR Honda and Purvines Racing Yamaha teams, where he was a consistent front-runner, finishing runner-up in the NGPC Pro 2 class in 2022 and 2023 before stepping up to the Pro category last year, where he placed seventh overall. In WORCS, Simpson finished third in the Pro 250 standings in 2022, before capturing the championship in 2023. He then moved up to the Pro 450 class in 2024, finishing the series in third overall.

Image: Supplied.

For 2025, Simpson has opted to return to Australia following the closure of the Purvines Racing Yamaha team for the season.

“America was getting a little quiet with deals and the boss of the team I was riding for has gotten sick, so they’ve shut the team down,” he continued. “Besides that, I didn’t have any other offers that came anywhere near close to what I was getting last year, so I didn’t really want to take that step back.

“Our family business back at home is growing, and it’s time for me to be back in Australia,helping with that. On the racing side, I didn’t really want to do off-road anymore because I’ve already done that – I wanted to do something that would motivate and excite me. I was in talks with a couple of different teams here, and the one that suited me the best was this Winner Racing Triumph deal.”

Image: Supplied.

Now back in Australia, Simpson is preparing to race the full ProMX championship on Triumph’s all-new TF 450-RC, forming part of a three-rider line-up alongside MX2 racers Connar Adams and Thynan Kean. Plus, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of competing in the 2025 Fox Australian Supercross Championship (AUSX).

“Basically, I just got a couple of bikes and now I’ll be racing all ProMX rounds and potentially even supercross,” he revealed. “But yeah, it’s been a long time – I haven’t raced any of these boys on a motocross track in ages. My deal is to be an ambassador for Triumph, so there are no real expectations on me at all when it comes to the team of people around me.

“For my own expectations, I’d love to be able to bang bars with some of the fastest guys and show them I can still ride a dirt bike. Even though I’ve been gone for a while and racing off-road, I know for a fact that I can do well at certain tracks. It might not be straight away, it might take me a few rounds, but all in all, it’s still a dirt bike… it’s nothing I haven’t done before.”

While it’s unclear just how competitive he will be in MX1 or if the bike will be on par from the outset, but one thing that is for certain, there will be a large amount of interest in both Simpson and his Triumph when the 2025 season takes off between 22-23 March at Wonthaggi, marking a homecoming of sorts for Simpson himself, who resides in Melbourne’s south east.