Image: Keith Muir.

Current Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) number four Cru Halliday will aim to challenge for the title as a privateer in 2017, after Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) opted not to renew his factory deal upon downsizing to a two-rider squad.

Halliday, 28, announced his intentions prior to Monday’s official ASBK test at Phillip Island, where he set the 10th-fastest time of 1m34.954s upon shakedown of his YZF-R1M – 1.757s in arrears of Michael Blair (Yamaha) at the top of the charts.

Following a full five seasons with YRT between 2012 and 2016 in a variety of categories, the former national Superstock 1000, Prostock and Formula Oz champion will continue racing in his own family-operated program with support from Yamaha Motor Australia, YMF, YMI, IPONE and additional Ficeda brands.

“We weren’t really up there with the times, but the first time I got to ride the bike was on Monday,” Halliday told CycleOnline.com.au. “It handled just like my old race bike, which is good to be back on the Yamaha after riding the Ducati at the GP. It’s a fresh bike, we’re a fresh team and it’s going to be an interesting year.

“It’s fairly exciting because I’d been with the factory team for a long time – they’re a great bunch of guys and we still get along – and I think it will give me a freshen-up as well. My main focus is to go to Phillip Island and bring home some solid points, keep it on two wheels at the first round. If I can do that, I’ll be happy.”

Unlike the majority of Yamaha Racing Development (YRD)-supported satellite teams that have chosen to compete with the standard YZF-R1, the Hallidays will enter the up-spec R1M that he has become accustomed to at YRT since its release in 2015 alongside returning factory duo Glenn Allerton and Wayne Maxwell.

“That was something my father worked out,” Halliday explained. “I was on the M in the factory team and we didn’t really want to stray too much away from that. Although the bikes are fairly similar, there are certain differences – the front forks being a touch longer on the M – and it’s good to be familiar with it, so I’m comfortable on it straight away.”

In some ways, previously fielding his own privateer R1 before securing a factory seat at Yamaha, Halliday’s career has come full-circle and he doesn’t see that as a complete negative, despite the added financial pressures associated.

“I remember back then it was all about fighting to get on the factory team and now we’ve been there, we’re sort of on the other end of it,” Halliday added. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s livened it up a bit and made it a bit more interesting – sometimes you can get into a bit of a rut, not saying I did that with Yamaha, but a new adventure makes 2017 a lot more exciting for me.

“It is a bit of a shame, definitely, not to be on the factory team for this year, but it does give you the desire to go out and try beat them. It’s going to be hard doing it with my own team because they’ve got the best of the best and we know that, but we can try to relay it back into my team, we just have to be careful of the budget and that’s what it comes down to. We’ll get better throughout the year.”