Jay Hague will step up from his usual Crendon Fastrack Honda CRF250R to ride the team’s CRF450R in the MX1 class for the rest of the season. His first race will be Sunday’s ACU British championship at Fatcat near Doncaster.

Hague has had a tough season that has been ravaged by injury and illness, so is not in contention for the MX2 championship. So he recently swapped to the 450 and has been testing on the sand tracks of Holland in Belgium in the run up to round five of the British series this weekend.

The 22-year-old said: “I love the Honda CRF450R after testing it and a making a few changes to suspension to get it more comfortable for me. It’s a bit faster than what I’ve been used to, but I really love it now. The goal is just to race it and have fun with no pressure or expectations.”

Team manager, triple world 500 champion Dave Thorpe, said: “Jay was really finding his form earlier in the year then had a few injuries and also fell ill and has struggled to come back as strong as he would like. So we talked and decided he should ride the Crendon Fastrack Honda CRF450R for the rest of the year. He’s a very talented rider and hopefully this change will be just the motivation he needs to have a successful end to the season.”

Hague will, of course, join fellow Crendon Fastrack Honda rider Tommy Searle in the MX1 class. Searle has also been in Europe testing suspension on sand tracks to get prepared for Fatcat. The 33-year-old and current British champion has won six motos this year, with two double wins and has a 13-point lead with just three rounds remaining.