Image: Octopi Media.

Plans for Aaron Tanti to join Team Solitaire Nuclear Blast Yamaha in 2021 Monster Energy Supercross have been shelved, the Australian opting to remain home amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

It had been announced last month that Tanti would be lining up in 250SX West full-time following a successful stint this year while he was riding for Serco Yamaha locally.

Instead, Tanti will stay put in the Australian ProMX Championship and Australian Supercross Championship, but is yet to confirm what team he will ride for in the new year after departing the factory Serco Yamaha squad.

“Obviously I’d signed to go to the US and everything was meant to happen, but COVID has thrown a spanner in the works and monitoring that, it ended top being too risky and too hard for me to even get there,” Tanti told MotoOnline. “It’s proving to be quite a difficult time in terms of the schedule as well.

“I’m really grateful for the Solitaire team for the opportunity, we’d spoken about it for a long time and it was lined up, so it’s unfortunate that we didn’t end up going ahead with it in the end. I have plans in place for 2021 and look forward to those being announced in the near future.”

Tanti was a standout in both Australian motocross and supercross during 2019, finishing inside the top five of the MX2 and SX2 series. This season was cancelled altogether as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.