The grand prix aspirations of Australia’s Arthur Sissis have hit a major hurdle with the shock announcement of his termination from Mahindra’s factory Moto3 line up.

The mid-season decision does no favours for the 19-year-old from Adelaide, who is now reportedly focused on a return to Speedway racing upon returning home.

An accomplished dirt racer, Sissis’ skill and finesse was honed early in his teens. At age 13 he won the 125cc Australian Speedway Championship, and in the same year went on to claim a stellar third in the World Junior Speedway Championship.

2008 would prove even more of a defining year for Sissis in regards to his road race career, with the Aussie ticking off the tough selection criteria in a Red Bull Rookies Cup qualifying event to secure a spot on the grid for 2009.

“I am not worried about going road racing, it’s just another motorbike,” Sissis said ahead of his first full road racing season. “I’ve raced all different sorts and this is just another one.

“I slide it more than other people because of riding on the dirt so much. The first thing I realised was that I had to use the rear brake a bit less, I was locking up the back too much.”

Joining countrymen Dylan Mavin and Josh Hook on the Rookies Cup grid, Sissis would fare particularly well against his rivals, racing to 13th overall with a best result of sixth at Assen. The promise of progress in 2010 didn’t eventuate to Sissis’ standards, with an identical 13th outright and sixth place finish the best individual race result.

Source: Ajo Motorsport.

A third shot at the Rookies Cup produced the breakthrough he had been chasing, with four individual race wins and a handful of podiums elevating him to second in the standings, a mere nine points in arrears of Italian Lorenzo Baldassarri.

It wasn’t the title he sought but the result proved defining nonetheless, with the door to a plum ride with Aki Ajo’s Red Bull KTM Moto3 squad flung open on the back of a strong showing as a replacement ride in the 125cc ranks at the Malaysian GP.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Sissis of his new ride in the world championship. “This has been the best year of my life.

“I have learnt so much in the Rookies Cup. I was a speedway rider before and learnt everything about road racing in the Cup. I know that racing in the GP class is a new challenge but I’m ready for it.”

Interestingly, Sissis’ formative season on the factory KTM would prove his best in terms of outright results. His first race with the team saw qualifying and race placings within the top 10, and by the fourth outing the Aussie was showing his worth with a top five finish.

He would continue to impress in his rookie season, though the breakthrough result came fittingly in front of his home crowd as he sliced his way to a podium finish at Phillip Island.

“It feels really good,” he said of the result. “I wasn’t expecting to do it here. In the last lap, I just tried to block all the doors and I did it.”

He netted a total of 84 points en route to 12th outright in 2012, a performance he struggled to match in 2013.

While he was competitive and scoring consistent points finishes, Sissis was clearly troubled by set up issues, with a best finish of sixth falling short of his own expectations.

“It’s difficult to summarise and explain, because there was a bit of everything,” said a philosophical Sissis of 2013. “I had some good races, but also a lot where we expected much more of ourselves.”

Source: MotoGP.

Sissis would exit the Red Bull KTM team at the end of the season, only to be snapped up by Mahindra to bolster its burgeoning factory presence in Moto3 for 2014. The MGP3O was a vastly different beast to the refined KTM and the learning curve was steep, illustrated by mixed results from pre-season testing.

A stroke of bad luck prevented the Aussie from even making the start of the Qatar season opener, with a bad bout of food poisoning confining him to the sidelines.

It would set the scene for a season of various struggles, with tough qualifying results, mechanical issues and bad luck involving other riders’ incidents costing him a shot at scoring points.

The German Grand Prix prior to the season break showed a glimmer of hope for the Mahindra-mounted rider, who wrangled a 13th place finish from 27th on the grid.

21st and 26th placings at Indianapolis and Brno to start the second half of the season ultimately proved the catalyst to the team’s decision to replace the embattled Aussie, effective from the next grand prix.

“It wasn’t a good race and not how I wanted to say goodbye to Mahindra,” said Sissis of his final showing with Mahindra. “Once again I was in among the slower riders, and it was impossible to get away.”

The outcome throws a spanner in the works for Sissis, however road or dirt, the future is still bright for the Aussie, who, still in his teens, clearly has both the drive and skill to make it as a top-shelf racer.