Active8 Yamalube Yamaha has confirmed former MX Nationals MX2 and AUS Supercross SX2 champion Luke Styke will transfer to the Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) for 2018.

Styke, 26, finished fifth in this year’s national MX1 championship with KTM Motocross Racing Team, but missed supercross with a back injury.

His transition to off-road has been rumoured in recent weeks and it was this afternoon confirmed he will join Josh Green, Wil Ruprecht, Damon Stokie and Beau Ralston in the factory Yamaha line-up for next year.

“I came to the end of the MX Nationals and just felt I needed a change,” Styke said. “I had raced motocross for so long and things were becoming a bit stale, but I didn’t want to stop racing, so I looked at other options and off-road really appealed to me.

“I did a few off-road events a while ago and I enjoyed them, so I began talking with AJ Roberts and Yamaha about it and they were really receptive to the idea so we started to look at things a little more seriously. At the moment, it is all new to me and I have so much to learn about off-road, but I’m excited every time I get on the bike.

“[I’m] keen to learn more about it and really up for the challenge of doing something completely new and out of my comfort zone. I don’t have a lot of time prior to round one, but I will do everything I can to be fit and ready to go and can’t wait to start the new era of my racing career.”

The official announcement from Active8 Yamalube Yamaha didn’t outline what class Styke would be focusing on next season. His lone professional championships came in 2013 as part part of the Serco Yamaha team, before going on to contest a single season in the MX2 World Championship the following year.