Broc Parkes’ departure has opened up at least one seat at YRT in ASC for 2014.

Yamaha Racing Team will move forward on its plans for the 2014 Australasian Superbike Championship (ASC) after it was this week confirmed Broc Parkes will switch to MotoGP.

Parkes won the Australian FX-Superbike Championship (to be rebranded under the ASC banner next season) on debut with YRT in 2013, however he’ll ride a PBM Aprilia in MotoGP instead of defending the title.

“Broc was an absolute pleasure to work with and he gelled with the team really quickly,” team manager John Redding told CycleOnline.com.au this afternoon.

“It didn’t take him long to come to grips with the production bikes and it was a really good year. We certainly wish him all the best with his new challenge.”

The departure of Parkes opens up a position at YRT for 2014, in which Redding has revealed the team will focus on the ASC series with a four-rider Superbike squad.

Despite discussions to contest both the ASC series and ASBK next year, differing regulations between the two series has prompted YRT to solely compete in the ASC series.

According to Redding, if the team was to take its four riders to all events in both series, it would need to build a minimum of 16 YZF-R1s including spare bikes considering the regulation difference – a non-feasible structure for the team.

It’s expected both Rick Olson and Cru Halliday will remain at YRT for another season, while multiple-time national champion Kevin Curtain has until Friday to decide his future.

With Parkes gone and Curtain’s comeback uncertain, as many as two new riders could be drafted into the new-look R1-only factory Yamaha program.

“We’ve had expressions of commitment from Rick and Cru, still talking to Kev and obviously we’re having some discussions with a couple of new riders to replace Broc,” Redding added.

“We’re 100 percent certain to be racing in the ASC next year. There had been some discussions [about ASBK], but for us the moot point was being able to race the same motorcycles in both series and that’s not the case.

“The compromised rules, from MA’s publicity, are somewhere between the existing Superbike rules and the Prostock class, so we’d technically be quite disadvantaged to race an ASC Superbike in the ASBK.”

Current ASBK number three and five-time New Zealand Superbike Champion Robbie Bugden has been heavily linked to the vacant Parkes seat, while Aussie internationals Mark Aitchison and Damian Cudlin are also rumoured to be in the frame if a position becomes available.

Bugden’s ride in the Team Suzuki ASBK program has been in doubt since the season finale in October, that team anticipated to field a single-rider operation with ASBK champion Wayne Maxwell at the helm next year.