Image: iKapture.

Winning the 2021 Penrite ProMX MX2 championship could be instrumental in defining the future of title prospect Nathan Crawford, reunited with Serco Yamaha following a single season in the world championship.

Crawford will turn 24 in July and will become too old to return to MX2 in Europe, however, capturing a 250 crown locally will be vital in his efforts to secure a top-level MX1 seat in the future. He previously displayed promise on the 450 with Kawasaki in 2017.

“It’s extremely important to try and win the title, not more this year than any other year because we put 110 percent in every single year, but I feel like I’m in a better spot as a person and rider,” Crawford told MotoOnline. “I’m ready. We came close that year in 2016, but I had a lot of injuries in the past and it is what it is.

“Obviously I haven’t won a title yet, but I know there are plenty of great riders who haven’t won 250 titles and go on to win multiple 450 titles. Just because I haven’t won a 250 title yet, I don’t think that means anything to me personally.

“It’d be great to get one, but it’s not the end of the world, to be honest. When the time’s right, it will come. Hope that’s this year. Looking forward, 24 is a good age next year to maybe look towards going 450 full-time from then on. We’ll just see what happens this year and what sort of deals come up at the end of the season.”

While his homecoming from Europe has been a positive reunion with the Queensland-based Serco Yamaha factory team, Crawford has been recovering from an undisclosed injury – he stopped short of confirming what it actually was – and has had limited seat time in recent weeks. Still, he’s indicated that it’s not set him back too much.

“Being back with Serco Yamaha is good for me, it’s familiar territory because I’ve done two years with the team previously, so we work well together as a team,” he added. “I only just got back on the bike, but I don’t feel too bad. I’ve been riding with a few of my competitors and didn’t really lose a lot – I only took four and a half weeks off, so I healed quite well, but that’s as far as I’ll go into it.”