Image: Keith Muir.

Yamaha Racing Team’s attempt to field Rick Olson in Australia’s opening round of the 2014 FIM World Supersport Championship at Phillip Island next month has been rejected by Motorcycling Australia (MA).

Olson is one of the most credentialed 600cc racers in the country, winning the Australian FX-600 Championship (now Australsian Supersport Championship) last year, adding it to the 2010 title and MA-affiliated 2009 Australian Superstock 600 Championship.

A factory Yamaha rider since 2010, Olson’s lone full season of supersport racing in MA’s top 600cc division of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) was in 2011, where he finished fourth in the series.

Since then, Olson has been solely competing in the ASC series domestically for YRT, along with select appearances in the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. YRT fielded a wildcard last year at Phillip Island with WSS veteran Kevin Curtain.

YRT team manager John Redding has revealed to CycleOnline.com.au that an application for Olson to ride a factory-supported YZF-R6 at Phillip Island next month has been denied, with the team yet to receive an official response from MA outlining the reasons.

“It’s obviously disappointing not to be able to give Ricky the opportunity,” Redding explained. “We have a World Supersport specification bike and were looking at entering him in the race, as we had with Kev [Curtain] in the past.

“We weren’t aware of any official criteria and were going off of the process in place with Kevin last year. Mostly for us it was a thank you for Rick as one of our star riders over the years. He asked the question, we had the motorcycle there, so we thought let’s repay him with the ride and see how he does.”

Motorcycling Australia CEO David White stated that Olson doesn’t fall under MA’s unofficial criteria in the selection process, which requires wildcards to either compete in the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) series or be returning from racing overseas.

The official application form does however request applicants to list their 2013 ASBK results, otherwise reasons why they weren’t in the series if they didn’t compete, performances at other events, or previous years.

Wildcard applications are processed and voted upon by the MA Road Race Commission, led by longtime Team Suzuki ASBK manager Phil Tainton as chairman, before MA submits successful applications to the FIM for final approval.

“The criteria is that you have to be an international competitor or be competing in the Australian championships,” White told CycleOnline.

Olson, who was yesterday confirmed to be competing in the 2014 FIM Endurance World Championship for Monster Energy Yamaha Austria Racing Team (click here for details), is frustrated after missing out on his first chance at competing on the world stage.

The former dirt track, motocross and supermoto graduate has held an MA licence since he started in the sport 20 years ago at the age of four, according to Olson, continuing to compete under it in the Australian Auto-Sport Alliance (AASA) sanctioned ASC series.

“I knew that there may have been an opportunity to race Phillip Island if I rode 600s last year, so I thought if I could do really well then I might get an opportunity to race World Supersport,” 24-year-old Olson said.

“It’s something that I’ve always thought was nearly impossible to achieve, but I knew my performance last year was pretty good. Once the team told me I had an opportunity to race I was pumped and thought I would have been accepted.

“I’m a racer, as long as I can keep going then I’ll race in anything, anywhere. I’ve never really been involved in the politics, but it certainly makes you think about it. This made me a bit angry…”

MA is yet to announce any wildcards for the 21-23 February event at Phillip Island.

It’s believed no superbike wildcards will line up, with 2013 entrants Team Honda Racing and Next Gen Motorsports both confirming to CycleOnline.com.au that they won’t field riders this year.