Image: Foremost Media.

A notable absentee from the Penrite ProMX MX1 grid in Wonthaggi this weekend is Italian manufacturer Beta, with Queensland dealer team Caloundra Motorcycle Centre Racing – which operated the outsourced Beta program last year – instead opting for Yamaha machinery this season.

The decision to return to blue equipment for 2025 was centred around a simple factor, and that was Beta not currently having a 250 four-stroke motocross entry in the market, with dealership director Zach Simpson electing for consistent colours beneath the team tent.

“We had the option of [racing] with Beta again for this year, with a bit of budget from the team at Beta Australia, but we just had a few too many riders that wanted to jump on 250s, so we thought we’d keep it simple and run our whole team on Yamahas for this season,” Simpson told MotoOnline.

“For us, it was a bit of a flip of the coin, as we were just getting the RX 450 into a really good spot, and if they’d had a 250, we probably would’ve continued running Betas for this year. It just made more sense for us to run four blue bikes, rather than one red and three blue.”

Beta’s domestic off-road presence is still operating in-house with riders Andy Wilksch, Jye Dickson and Ebony Nielsen in the Australian Enduro Championship (AEC), however, when contacted by MotoOnline, Beta Motorcycles Australia marketing manager Tom Mendey confirmed that the brand will not have any official presence in ProMX this year.

As for Caloundra Motorcycle Centre Racing, it will field Addison Treeby alongside Hayden and Lachlan Roache in MX3, Sam Larsen in MX2, and Levi Rogers – formerly the Beta rider – rounding out the MX1 effort all on Yamahas. In addition, popular privateer Joel Evans will be under the tent at Wonthaggi, aboard a KX450 with assistance from the team.