With Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team’s Aaron Plessinger returning to full fitness, the team and replacement rider Dean Ferris have come to a mutual agreement to part ways for the remainder of this season. The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team will contest the rest of the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship with its original two-man team of Justin Barcia and Plessinger, and would like to thank Dean for his very respectable results supporting the team while Plessinger was out with injury.
Dean Ferris & Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Part Ways
July 5, 2019
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Big news from Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing on the eve of the 2019 RedBud Motocross, as they have mutually agreed to part ways with Dean Ferris. The Australian was tapped by the team to fill in for Aaron Plessinger through the first part of the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship while the rookie recovered from a heel injury, and was to receive direct support in the way of a factory YZ450F and spot under the team tent through the remainder of the summer. When Plessinger returned to action last weekend at Southwick, Ferris was moved to another part of the team pit as intended and the setup was supposed to continue like this for the rest of the season.
To hear that Ferris and the team have split is a bit of surprise, considering how much he gave up in order to come to the United States (he’s the defending MX champion in Australia, a series currently going on) and his results thus far in the American series. There were varied expectations of how Ferris would fare in the US this summer, largely due to his one-off appearance at the 2017 High Point Motocross that saw him led laps and finish near the top of the field. But in talking to him and the team in the preseason, both parties wanted to put in consistent top-10 results and have a bike on the track, something they had in Ferris’ ninth overall rank in the points. In recent weeks, Ferris followed the series in a motorhome so that his wife and children could travel with him. He will not conclude the summer as a privateer and instead will return home to Australia to contest their outdoor series.
Details of the split are not completely outlined in the press release by Yamaha, but there is a lengthy quote from Team Manager Jim Perry. The statement is posted in full below…
“It was a pleasure to have Dean filling in for the opening rounds of the 2019 Lucas Oil Motocross Championship while Aaron was recovering from injury. Now that Aaron has returned to his #7 YZ450F, the Aussie national champ has decided to return home down under. The Monster Energy Factory Yamaha team appreciated his strong work ethic and commitment while in the states, we wish him all the best in the future.” – Jim Perry
So what really happened? I noticed at southwick that he was quite separated from the rest of the team. I thought that that was a little weird.
Moto journalists never give us the real story. There seemed to be some bad blood between them.