With the 2025 Penrite ProMX Championship fast-approaching, anticipation continues to build with a host of major rider changes shaking up the grid over the off-season. In this latest Q&A feature, MotoOnline breaks down the headline team changes and what they mean ahead of the new season.

Image: Post Moto.

Q: What was the biggest move of the off-season?

A: The biggest move of the off-season was Aaron Tanti reuniting with the Monster Energy CDR Yamaha Team. Tanti and the Craig Dack-led organisation claimed the MX1 title in 2022 and secured third place in that year’s AUSX championship. However, a pre-season crash left the new signing with a fractured C1 vertebra, sidelining him for at least the first half of the outdoors. In his absence, CDR has drafted in New Zealander Maximus Purvis, who recently dominated the opening round of the 2025 NZMX series with JCR Yamaha. With Tanti returning to CDR Yamaha Monster Energy, the team has secured another fulltime rider, meaning he will be in a position to race both motocross and supercross alongside Jed Beaton. Unless they add a third bike with an international onboard in a bid to halt Honda Racing’s SX1 title streak, this move also effectively closes the door on supercross-only deals for riders like Matt Moss, as the team no longer needs to fill gaps for the second half of the season.

Q: How did the former GasGas Racing Team riders end up on the KTM Racing Team for 2025?

A: This shift comes as the group opts to park the GasGas Racing Team, transitioning both Kirk Gibbs and Byron Dennis across to KTM machinery for 2025. Last season, GasGas and KTM fielded two riders each, but since the closure of the GasGas program, KTM has expanded its roster to four riders – more in line with what the Austrian manufacturer is doing in MXGP. Meanwhile, Nathan Crawford returns for his fourth term with KTM, while Noah Ferguson completes a quartet of orange riders, effectively filling the position of US-bound Kayden Minear after he signed to join Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s amateur program. It’s a reunion of sorts for Ferguson, who left the GasGas Racing Team and spent a single season last year at Honda Racing. That all means that KTM Racing Team will field Crawford and 2015 champion Gibbs in MX1, while Dennis and Ferguson will fly the flag in MX2.

Image: Foremost Media.

Q: Amongst the KTM group’s restructure, does it affect the Raceline Husqvarna TDub Racing Team?

A: Raceline will continue with the same foundation that it’s built over the past few years. The biggest shake-up comes with the addition of Regan Duffy in his comeback to professional racing again, stepping in to replace Jack Mather, who has been linked to Beta for the new year. Duffy’s arrival sees Raceline shift from fielding two MX2 riders to two MX1 riders instead, as he joins team owner/rider Todd Waters aboard the FC 450 this season. Meanwhile, Rhys Budd returns for his second season on a Husqvarna, but this year he’ll be the lone rider in MX2.

Q: Which familiar faces won’t be lining up behind the gates this season?

A: In MX1, Brett Metcalfe has officially stepped away from professional racing, closing the book on an exceptional career that spanned decades and saw him compete at the highest level both in Australia and internationally. Four-time MX1 champion Dean Ferris won’t be lining up – at least fulltime – for the 2025 season by all indications, though he’s yet to officially call time on his career. Plus, Jake Cannon is set to take on a new challenge in Europe within EMX250. The young Queenslander has signed with the Bud Racing Team, where he’ll pilot a Kawasaki KX250.

Image: Post Moto.

Q: How did Cambell Williams end up back with Empire Kawasaki?

A: After previous MX2 front-runner Reid Taylor parted ways with Empire Kawasaki following the 2024 AUSX season, it created an opportunity for Cambell Williams to make his return to the now Penrite-backed team alongside MX1 team leader Luke Clout. Taylor has since headed to the US, joining ClubMX Yamaha as a replacement rider prior to being injured, while Williams – after brief stints onboard Yamaha and Husqvarna machinery last year – steps back into familiar territory with the Tyson Cherry-operated Penrite Racing Empire Kawasaki and this time in MX2.