Image: Foremost Media.

An 11th-hour agreement will see Honda Racing bring Aaron Tanti home for the 2024 Fox Australian Supercross Championship (AUSX), targeting the SX1 title after racing internationally this season.

Tanti exited CDR Yamaha at the end of last year in a bid to test himself in Monster Energy AMA Supercross as part of the PRMX team onboard Kawasaki machinery, but injury largely disrupted his campaign.

The 28-year-old injured his shoulder leading into Anaheim 1, then finally returned to finish P19 at round nine in Birmingham, only to injure his thumb the following week and require another surgery. He then turned his attention to the Canadian Triple Crown Series, in which he finished fourth in the 450 Pro class with two podiums in eight rounds.

Now, Tanti will make a high-profile homecoming in AUSX with Boost Mobile Honda Racing alongside defending champion Dean Wilson and new ProMX MX1 champion Kyle Webster, who will miss the opening rounds while focusing on the Motocross of Nations (MXoN). It’s unclear if the team will draft in any additional imports, pending Fire Power Honda’s plans in the US for 2025.

“This is the first time that Yarrive [Konsky] and I even had conversations and it only happened three or four weeks ago,” Tanti told MotoOnline following a low-key unveiling at Queensland Moto Park’s final round of ProMX. “We worked out a deal and I’m obviously super-excited – the team just won all four titles in ProMX.

“I had some good motos in Canada, definitely built my strength back with no injuries, and now I’m ready for Australian supercross. I didn’t get a race win in Canada, but I got a few seconds, learnt a lot with the team and we came a long way. It was cool to experience that, a lot of racing with eight rounds in 11 weeks, and I’m glad I did it.”

After winning the Australian MX1 championship in 2022 with Yamaha, Tanti was exceptional in AUSX and won the Adelaide round, but crashing out in Newcastle impacted his title prospects on the way to third in the final standings. He also won an SX2 final in Melbourne’s WSX Australian Grand Prix on his way to third overall in the main event.

Tanti is hopeful that he will return to the United States for 2025 – most likely with the PRMX program for a second term – and the AUSX series will be instrumental in his preparations. There has been indication if he will enter the World Supercross Championship (WSX) with Honda Racing.

“At this stage I haven’t signed a contract for next year, but I would like to go back and actually race this time,” he added. “PRMX is provably going to be the option, but right now I’m focusing on supercross here – I have a chip on my shoulder from that year I crashed out… I came very close to winning it. I will definitely use this series as preparation for next year.”