Image: Foremost Media.

After revealing his exit from the Empire Kawasaki team, Jai Constantinou has confirmed his intentions to contest the 2023 Australian Supercross Championship (AUSX), currently in the process of putting together a privateer effort onboard a KTM in SX2.

Constantinou extended this year with Empire Kawasaki on a motocross-only deal in MX2, but after breaking his femur prior to the opening round, he was unable to contest any of the 2023 Penrite ProMX Championship rounds.

“Obviously my contract was until the end of motocross with Empire and without getting to race ProMX this year was a bit gut-wrenching to miss the entire season, but it is motorsport and stuff like that happens,” Constantinou told MotoOnline. “It was disappointing to miss the whole season.

“I did have the intention of coming back for the final two, but unfortunately, I had another setback in the week leading up to QMP, and ultimately me and Empire mutually agreed to sort of discontinue there. I really enjoyed my time at Empire the last few years, but I just felt for me going forwards in the future, it was time for a bit of a change, so that’s where I am at now.”

The Victorian has demonstrated the capability to stand on the podium at national level, scoring a P3 finish in MX2 moto two last year at Maitland onboard a KX250 with the Empire Motorsport operation. His attention turns to making a comeback to competition when AUSX commences in Adelaide on 7 October, with the target of completing the season.

“I organised a bike just before the final two rounds, and started doing a little bit of riding – I’ve had a few rides on a 250 now, just a privateer effort,” Constantinou added. “Feeling pretty good on the bike… My main plan was just to get a bike and start riding and get back to full health, as I had missed the entire ProMX series and just had so much time away from the seat this year.

“So that was my main goal, but I’ve been feeling pretty good, a lot better than I thought on the bike and that sort of re-shifted my focus now to wanting to do the Australian Supercross series. I don’t have much in the works at all at the moment, pretty much just got one sponsor – Raw Plumbing – who’s helping me get a bike and we are just organising some suspension now to get done for supercross.

“I’m going to slowly start doing some of that riding, riding some supercross now. My plan is to do the three-round series. As it’s only three rounds, it’s not too much of a commitment, privateer-wise, but yeah I’ve got nothing in the works. Definetely open to more sponsorship to try and get there, but as for now I’m trying to put that together to go racing on our own.”