Image: Russell Colvin.

The 2016 jigsaw puzzle of who’s doing what is all starting to fall into place. The latest rider to confirm that he will be stepping up to the premier Superbike category is Michael Blair, who will race a Yamaha Blair Build YZF-R1 in the Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship.

“I’ve had my time on the Yamaha R6,” said 21-year-old Blair, who finished second in last year’s YRD-backed Australian FX-Supersport Championship and third in the Australasian Supersport Championship.

“Even though we didn’t win the championship, we were consistent up the front. Just a few crashes and mechanical faults got us into a bit of trouble with the championship, but overall I was quite happy with last year’s championship. I just thought it was time to step up and keep progressing in the sport and try a new machine and new class. I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”

Blair had his first taste of the 2015 R1 at Winton Motor Raceway a few days after last year’s grand finale at Sydney Motorsport Park and described the bike as “awesome!”.

“I can’t fault the R1,” he continued. “It definitely has a lot more horsepower than the Yamaha R6, which will take me a little bit of time to get used to, but it corners just like the R6, which enables me to ride it like a Supersport bike.”

Blair will take part in the Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) test at Sydney Motorsport Park at the end of this month, providing the first opportunity to see how he does against the likes of factory Yamaha riders Wayne Maxwell, Glenn Allerton and Cru Halliday. In regards to goals for this year, he is just treating this year as a learning year.

“I would really like to get a few top fives towards the end of the year,” Blair added. “A wet race could through a spanner into the works however. I’m just going to enter 2016 as a learning year and just try my best and keep progressing and hope to be up the front sooner rather than later.”

Blair will also contest the opening round of the Phillip Island Superbike Championship at the end of February, which will run in conjunction with the opening round of the FIM World Superbike Championship.