Image: Supplied.

Yamaha Motor Australia has introduced a new Supersport 300 team to contest the category within the 2018 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), under the brand of bLU cRU 300 Racing.

In association with Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha Motor Finance and Yamaha Motor Insurance, bLU cRU 300 Racing will field Zac Levy, Hunter Ford and Tom Bramich aboard YZF-R3 machinery, to be overseen by Ian Irving.

It’s part of a more focused step-up program that Yamaha has made a success in motocross, enabling road racers to potentially advance from the GP Juniors Cup to the YMF R3 Cup, to bLU cRU 300 Racing all the way through to the factory Supersport and Superbike operation.

“The step-up program has been very successful in motocross and we are now implementing it in road racing,” explained YRT’s John Redding. “In the past there has been significant support at the top of the tree for road racing, but little as riders climb the ranks, so we have taken on what has worked in motocross and tweaked it to suit the needs of road racers.

“Aspiring road racers in Australia now can follow a clear path presented by Yamaha that will reward them with good support through all the racing categories as their career continues to grow. Yamaha take pride in developing and nurturing racing talent in this country and I’m proud to be able to assist them in implementing this program. The three riders selected have the desire and talent to be future stars of the sport and we look forward to helping them achieve their racing goals.”

bLU cRU 300 Racing will make its official debut next weekend at the opening round of the 2018 ASBK championship, to be contested alongside round one of the Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) at Phillip Island in Victoria between 23-25 February.