Brett Metcalfe will contest a full season of the MX Nationals in his home country of Australia in 2018 after signing a deal with Honda Racing. After racing select rounds of the Australian Motocross Nationals in 2015 and 2016, while also racing the Canadian Motocross Championship, the Mannum, South Australia native returned full-time in 2017 with SD3 Husqvarna. Metcalfe and the team parted ways during the season and he raced aboard a private KTM at Murray Bridge before finishing the season with Mega Fuels/Monster Energy Kawasaki.
Metcalfe is no stranger to riding Hondas, having spent much of his time in the U.S. with GEICO Honda.
“I finished the best overall I have finished with Honda in America,” Metcalfe says. “In 2009 I was third in the 250 Class AMA Motocross Championship and in 2010 I took six podium finishes on my way to second overall to Ryan Dungey in the 450 Class after taking third in the East Coast SX Lites Championship. I want to win an Australian Motocross Championship in the MX1 class. It’s something I always promised myself I would try and do before I finished racing professionally. I came back to America following a trying year in Australia to prepare for next year and I am definitely looking forward to working with the Honda Racing team in Australia next year.”
The team is one of the most successful in Australia, with Justin Brayton winning the SX1 title in the Australian Supercross Championship in 2016 and currently leading the championship in 2017. Next year will be the first time since 2015 the team has contested the outdoor championship.
“Since Brett’s departure from Australia in 2002, you quickly realise how much he has actually achieved,” says Honda Motorcycles brand and motorsport manager Glyn Griffiths. “I think people forget his race-winning qualifier at the MXoN in 2013 against the best riders in the world and we are really excited to form this new relationship with one of the world’s most established racers.”
Metcalfe, 33, finished seventh in the championship in 2017.
