Next season a new team will enter the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championship; Riley Kawasaki will line up two young riders in the MX2 class with the support of Kawasaki Motor Europe and Kawasaki Benelux.
KME has always supported promising young riders in MX2, and next year the engagement will be intensified. Alongside Mathis Valin, who will race for the factory Kawasaki Racing Team, Kawasaki Motors Europe, Kawasaki Benelux and Riley Racing will support two further young prospects Kay Karssemakers and Tom Guyon, each of whom has been European championship runner-up during their young careers. To enhance the chances of success the team managed by Olaf Haazen has reached agreements with former CLS Kawasaki team manager Jean Jacques Luisetti and respected technician Harry Nolte to develop this new project and prepare for next season.
The team will operate from the Netherlands and has already attracted a number of technical partners including Pro Circuit. Dutch youngster Kay Karssemakers, European EMX250 Championship runner-up in 2023, will enter his second season in the MX2 class, while France’s Tom Guyon, who scored several top-ten results during the 2022 campaign, will return to the GPs after exploring new adventures, including racing in the USA, this season.
Olaf Haazen: “I’m very excited about this new project and to have a collaboration with Kawasaki Motors Europe and Kawasaki Benelux for the upcoming two years. I am also delighted that I have signed Tom Guyon and Kay Karssemakers for the 2025 season. To ensure a strong comeback I needed to look for the right people to join my team; I found them in Jean-Jacques Luisetti and Harry Nolte. Jean-Jacques was the owner of the CLS/Monster Energy Kawasaki team which successfully contested the MX2 world championship in the past and he has a lot of experience that will help us a lot at Riley Racing. We will also work with Harry Nolte as technical manager so we have added a wealth of experience to the team. We’re not coming to play around; we are coming back to win and that will always be the goal.”
Jean Jacques Luisetti: “Racing has always been in my blood, and we had a successful period with Team CLS for ten years, winning MX2 GPs with Steven Frossard, Tommy Searle, Joel Roelants, Max Anstie, Arnaud Tonus and Dylan Ferrandis and also several MXGP rounds with Christophe Pourcel. I have been involved in new projects in recent years as, together with my son, I re-launched a dealership which became the number one in sales for Kawasaki in Europe, and now I’m back in the paddock alongside Olaf. The goal is of course to be successful in the MX2 World Championship, working with a strong staff and young talented riders as we always did with Team CLS.”
Tom Guyon: “2025 will be my last season in the MX2 class, and to perform and show what I can do my goal was to sign with a professional team, to work with people who trust me and who will help me to reach my goals. I found everything in this project, and as soon as I start talking with Olaf and Jean Jacques I knew that it was the place to be. At the moment I’m still recovering from an injury, I start again training physically a few weeks ago and I will be ready to be back on a Kawasaki beginning of November; the goal will be to have a strong winter preparation, without injuries, to be ready for the first GPs.”
Kay Karssemakers: “For sure really excited to work with new people who have a long and great experience in the sport, and also to work with a new brand. This season was a learning year with some up and down, some injuries but we learn a lot and for sure all these experiences will help me to be stronger in 2025. And it’s really nice that people such as Olaf and Jean Jacques trust me and believe that I can do good in the World Championship.”
Team organization
– Team owner and manager: Olaf Haazen
– Advisor and assistant manager: Jean-Jacques Luisetti
– Technical manager: Harry Nolte
– Bike trainer: William Saris
Team base
Head office based in Dubai, United Arab Amirates
Workshop based in the Netherlands
Photocredit – Mediacross
