Source: Supplied.

Cooper Pozniak is set to enter his first-ever season as both a factory-backed contender, with the Yamalube Yamaha Racing team, and a serious title threat in the Motul MX Nationals MXD category.

Finishing third in the 2016 MXD champion in his rookie season, Pozniak caught the attention of the highly-succesful development squad and the phone call he had been waiting for his entire career finally came.

“When I got the message from Yamaha it was just so good, I was really happy,” Pozniak told MotoOnline.com.au. “I’ve never had any factory support before throughout my entire career, I’m just so pumped to be able to get this help.”

The New South Wales native believes the team’s support is already paying off, admitting he is leaps and bounds ahead of his 2016 season preparation in just the first month of the new year.

“It’s only the start of January and I already feel like I’m twice as prepared as I was heading into last season,” said Pozniak. “It feels really good to be all the way up there already, and it’s so awesome to get this help from such a professional group of guys.

“I’ve been up in Queensland a fair bit already and we’ve done a little bit of testing to get the bike all set up and I’m really happy with the bike. It’s obviously a big change for me because I raced KTM my whole life, but I’m really happy with the bike and I already feel comfortable on it.”

In stark contrast to his rookie season, the 18-year-old now enters 2017 as a factory-supported rider with one goal in mind before making the move to MX2 for 2018.

“Last year I obviously had no pressure because I had no team and minimal support, so I really wasn’t expecting anything,” he explained. “I managed to put together a solid year and I was really happy with that. This is going to be my last year in MXD, so I’m going in there to win the championship.

“I’m not putting any pressure on myself really, I just want to get the first round out of the way and then just stay consistent all year. Being on a factory team and now considered a title threat, I’m still not going to put much pressure on myself, I’m just really looking forward to it.”

Pozniak will be joined by MXD rookie Cody Dyce to make up the two-rider Yamalube Yamaha Racing squad for the 2017 season.