American Bradley Taft has agreed to a deal with Penrite Honda Racing to contest the 2018 Australian Supercross Championship in SX2, the team announced today.
Taft, 21, will join fellow American and two-time Australian Supercross Champion Justin Brayton on the team. Brett Metcalfe will race select rounds with the team.
“The Penrite Honda Racing team has had amazing success with [Jimmy] Decotis, [Gavin] Faith, [Weston] Peick, and [Justin] Brayton,” Taft commented. “I haven’t had teammates who have won 450cc supercross and motocross national races before, so I want to learn as much as I can from this experience and am super appreciative to be part of it.”
The Penrite Honda Racing team is one of the most successful teams in Australia and has regularly signed Americans to contest the supercross series. The team has won the last two SX1 titles with Brayton and Gavin Faith earned two SX2 titles with the team.
“We didn’t need to contract someone that would compete with Justin,” said team owner Yarrive Konsky. “In the 450 class, anyone outside of the top 15 in America would find it difficult to finish on the podium in Australia, so we turned our attention to the 250cc class.
“Taft is young and really keen to prove himself and racing outside of America will be a great test for him. We are looking forward to having him on board—it’s going to be a great season of supercross.”
Following a successful amateur career, Taft signed with CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha in 2017. The Missouri native finished the 2018 250SX West Region 14th in points in his second professional season.
Taft and the team parted ways prior to the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. He raced two rounds of Pro Motocross in the 450 Class aboard a privateer Husqvarna and put in impressive tenth and 16th overall finishes.
The five-round Australian Supercross Championship begins next weekend at Jimboomba.
