Yamaha Racing returns for the 2025 ProMX season and are bursting at the seams with local talent desperate for success when the new racing season gets under way and can proudly reveal their 2025 supported riders.
Final team structure and team partners will be announced prior to round one of the championships with some major plans in place as well as series support for the national championships.
MX1
Jed Beaton is back and will be joined by a familiar face in Aaron Tanti, who returns to the CDR Yamaha line up for 2025.
Beaton proved to be a sensational pick up for the CDR team in 2024, finishing second in an intense and tight struggle for the ProMX championship. He tied on points after eight rounds and only a points count back could separate Beaton from Webster.
He then took that momentum from the ProMX championship into the Australian Supercross Championship and performed admirably. With limited supercross experience, you could see the improvement in Beaton every lap and by seasons end, he finished in fourth place in the championship with two podium results and ahead of some well credentialed and international riders.
“I’m looking forward to another year with the team and think we are ready to step it up for 2025. The team and I gelled well, and I think we are just scratching the surface of the results we are capable of.
“While the 2024 season was successful, there was a lot to take and learn from it and we have already made changes in our preparation for the new year which I believe will put me in a much better place.
“The team have the bike working great and I’m excited to get stuck into it,” Beaton ends.
After a season in the US and Canada, Aaron Tanti returns to the CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team for 2025. Tanti, the 2022 ProMX Champion, will be looking to regain that form and being back with the CDR team and the YZ450F, should see Tanti right back at the front of the pack.
“I had a career goal to race in the US and while it was frustrating in many ways and a lot of injuries, I’m glad I did it and feel I learned a lot from it,” Tanti explains. “I wanted to return home and to reunite with Craig and the team is awesome.
“2022 was my best season and being back on a YZ450F, surrounded by the CDR team, I’m confident I can get back to my best and be a real challenger in both the ProMX and Australian Supercross Championships,” he said.
MX2
The Yamalube Yamaha team will front the start line with a two-pronged attack for 2025, retaining the services of Ryder Kingsford and Jayce Cosford. Both riders had flashes of brilliance in 2024 and are ready to leave a permanent mark in 2025.
Ryder Kingsford showed he had what it takes to be at the front of the hotly contested MX2 field. Kingsford landed on the podium in both motocross and supercross rounds, highlighted by race wins at Maitland and Redcliffe.
After coming off multiple injuries in previous years, Kingsford showed when fully fit, he is a real race winner and another season of experience and working with the Yamalube Team will only see him continue to climb the MX2 ladder.
“When I look back at 2024, I see it as a good learning year for me, with plenty of highs and a few lows. I believe my pace is good and I can do the speed, I just need to work on some consistency and rack up goods points in every moto.
“The Yamalube Team have been awesome to deal with and looked after me well, so I was keen to re-sign and see if we can keep the momentum going and get after the championships in 2025.”
Jayce Cosford is an industrious, no non-sense rider, that leaves it all out on the track. Towards the end of the 2024 ProMX, Cosford looked to have turned a corner as he began to rack up race podiums consistently and then showed he had plenty of speed on a supercross track as well.
Unfortunately, injury stopped the momentum built, but Cosford is nearly back to full health and will begin his preparations for 2025 in the coming weeks.
“I’m doing all I can to make the most of the opportunities I have in racing,” Cosford explains. “Last year I worked hard and started seeing the results come later in the year, but I want to be better again in 2025, so I have made some more changes and will move to Victoria to work with Ross Beaton at Beatons Pro Formula.
“I don’t want to get to the end of my career and say I should have done, or regret not giving it my all, so I have hooked up with Ross and will get down to Victoria in January and get started.”
MX3 / MXW
Things will be quieter under the WBR Yamaha tent next season. The team will move back to three riders in 2025, from four in 2024, in order to provide a more focused and dedicated approach to their racing.
And they will contest two separate classes. Koby Hantis and Ky Woods will contest the MX3 division while up and coming female rider, Madi Simpson will handle the MX3 duties as well as fly the flag for the team at the Australian Off-Road Championships.
Hantis is back for a second year and was a revelation in 2024. The unheralded youngster finished second in the ProMX championship and was the red plate holder for large portions of the series and then backed that up with a third-place finish in the SX3 class in Supercross to prove his versatility.
“Last year was my first full season in a professionally structured team and my results instantly improved. Having the WBR Yamaha team behind me and a great bike, meant I could focus on my riding and training and the results got better straight away.
“The Whitten family are cool people and create a cool vibe on race day. They have stepped it up for 2025 and offered even better support next year and I can’t wait to get to Wonthaggi and get after it.”
Ky Woods will race alongside Hantis for 2025. Woods has speed to burn and showed that on several occasions in 2024, taking round wins at both motocross and supercross. Now, with a good team of people around him, expect his consistency to improve and Woods to be a championship contender.
“WBR Yamaha offer the best MX3 ride in Australia and it was cool that I get the opportunity to race for them. I spent a lot of time in 2024 racing against their riders, so I know how good the bike is and how well the team works. I have already started riding the YZ250F and I love it, so I’m motivated to reward the team with some good results this year.”
Madi Simpson will be one to watch in the Women’s championship as she joins the WBR Yamaha Team. In a deal that will see her do both ProMX and AORC, Simpson has already proven she is just as capable in the trees as she is on the track.
Simpson, based in Queensland, was the winner of the Junior Girls class at the AORC, and when she made the move to senior racing, mixed it up with the championship contenders in the ProMX.
“I was stunned when Yamaha approached me about racing for them in 2025 but so happy they did,” Simpson begins. “They have put together a good deal where I can race motocross and off road with the support of the WBR Yamaha team.
“I felt instantly at home on the YZ250F and really looking forward to racing it in 2025.
Local and regional races get under way in February while the ProMX Championship kicks off at Wonthaggi in March and finishes at Queensland Moto Park in August.
