Image: Foremost Media.

Defending Mi-Bike Australian Superbike champion Mike Jones will race-on with Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) in 2023, alongside Cru Halliday once more in the outfit’s premier class line-up for next year.

Jones joined YRT for the first time on a Superbike this season and made an immediate impact, winning six races and four of the seven rounds on his way to a 52-point title win.

The 2022 title success marked Jones’ third ASBK premier class crown, with his previous championship victories in the category coming on a Kawasaki (2015) and Ducati (2019).

He also ended a 15-year ASBK title drought for Yamaha by securing the crown this year and, despite briefly being linked to Honda in the silly season, will have an opportunity to win a record fourth championship in the class during the upcoming season aboard the YZF-R1M.

Halliday has been a staple in YRT’s line-up for much of the last decade. He competed in his own satellite Yamaha ASBK effort before returning to the official team in 2018 on an R6, winning the Australian Supersport Championship that season.

Stepping back up to an R1 the following year, Halliday has remained in the squad’s Superbike effort and has his eyes on an elusive ASBK premier class title, having finished eighth in the title-race this past season.

The 2023 ASBK season gets underway with the official pre-season test at Sydney Motorsport Park on 1-2 February, before the first of seven rounds takes place at Phillip Island on 24-26 February.