Taylor Hammal will race in the MX1 class for Dixon Kawasaki in 2025 and will start his campaign in the World Tour Arenacross championship then the 2025 ACU British championship.
Steve Dixon’s DRT Kawasaki team will be fielding a two-rider team for the AX World Tour championships which will start on Saturday 4th January at Birmingham’s BP Pulse Arena. Hammal will be returning for 2025 after a season on Honda. He will be representing the DRT Kawasaki squad in both the AX British and World Tour championships and will be joined by a yet to be announced teammate who will compete in the AX World Tour.
Kawasaki have always been supportive of the Arenacross championship in the U.K from its inception and are pleased to continue their association with series, especially with the introduction of the World Tour championship for 2025 as Ross Burridge, Kawasaki UK’s Head of Marketing & Racing Department, explains;
“The Arenacross series continues to go from strength to strength and the addition of the World Championship element for 2025 only makes it even more exciting to be a part of! We have had a lot of success over the past few years and we are keen to challenge for top honours again in 2025. Steve Dixon and his team have plenty of experience in this arena and with a strong rider line up, plus the awesome KX450 we are confident of repeating these successes when the gate drops in January next year!”
A sentiment Arenacross owner and promoter Matt Bates shares, as he is equally pleased with the confirmation of Kawasaki’s continued involvement in Arenacross, saying;
“Kawasaki have long been supporters of Arenacross and have not only fielded a strong team year on year, but have won three individual and team championships throughout our ten year partnership, proving that they are one of the strongest teams out there – and now with official support from Kawasaki Europe means that Kawasaki will be represented by one of the longest standing Grand Prix race teams – DRT Kawasaki. On behalf of the entire Arenacross family, I would like to welcome Steve Dixon and his team to our British and World Tour Championships”.
As for Taylor himself, it’s a fresh challenge he’s ready to embrace and he’s happy to be back racing for the DRT Kawasaki team as he looks to assert himself as one of the U.K’s top 450cc riders after spending most of his adult career racing a 250cc machine. He’s also excited about the buzz of racing indoors again, something he hasn’t done in over a decade.
“I’m really looking forward to a new challenge, which is always good to keep it exciting and new. The Arenacross team look they they’re doing a great job incorporating us British motocross riders into the series and I’m pleased I’m one of them” says the 24-year-old from Southampton. “My friends and family are getting their tickets for Wembley already, and some haven’t been to an Arenacross race before so that’s cool. Doing the AX series is something I’ve always thought about and with the extra money up for grabs and the opportunity to race over in Abu Dhabi sealed the deal to do it for me. Going into it being back with Kawasaki and DRT will be great and I can’t wait to get out there practising for it soon. We’re hopefully planning to do a bit of testing down in France and Spain in December to get comfortable with the tracks. I haven’t raced AX in 11 years so that’s going to be fun.”
2025 Arenacross Tour Schedule
*Round 1 – 4 January, BP Pulse Arena, Birmingham, England*
Round 2 – 18 January, OVO Arena, London, England
Round 3 – 31 January, SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Round 4 – 1 February, SEE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Round 5 – 8 February, P&J Live Arena, Aberdeen, Scotland
*Round 6 – 22 February, AO Arena, Manchester, England (British Championship Tour Finals)
*Round 7 – April – TBA (Middle East/ International)
*Round 8 – 26 April, Etihad Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi (World Tour Championship Finals)
For more information on Arenacross, check out https://www.axworldtour.com