Motorcycling Australia press release:

The final Motorcycling Australia Elite Performance Academy (EPA) camp for 2015 came to its conclusion with another industrious day of riding on Monday.

The EPA squad members continued to have their racing education broadened with wet asphalt added to the list of terrains (grass, standard asphalt and dirt track) that the riders were tested on over the course of the three-day camp.

All tests were conducted under the watchful eye of a number of well-credentialed mentors including former MotoGP and World Superbike star Chris Vermeulen, three-time World Speedway champion Jason Crump and former MX1 World Championship gun Josh Coppins.

Vermeulen, who will take on an advisory role to the four road race riders in the EPA program, lauded the benefits of the program.

“It’s a great opportunity for these young kids,” Vermeulen said. “There’s so many different disciplines in motorcycling and we’re putting them through all different surfaces on these one-off motorbikes, so it’s good.

“It’s great that we can judge how these kids adapt to different situations and you really start to find different abilities showing in different areas and where we can help the kids.”

Coppins, who will take on a similar role to Vermeulen with the EPA’s sole motocross rider Mitch Evans,said the varied and intensive drills conducted at the camp were all part of accelerating the development of the nation’s best young riders.

“I think this is what the sport needs, and I think there will be some champions here,” Coppins said. “I think a program like this teaches the riders things that they don’t normally think about.

“A lot of our kids just want to get on a bike and go fast, and over time they develop skills which will help them be a better motorcycle racer.

“When they leave this camp, I think they will start to consider those skills at a lot earlier age and develop them quicker, and I think that is a vital thing to help them be a better rider.”

The eight current members of the EPA squad will now head their separate ways to compete in competitions relevant to their discipline, before moving into the second year of the EPA pathway with a camp at the beginning on 2016.