The decision of Dean Ferris to sign a motocross-only deal with CDR Yamaha for the 2017 season indicates he’s basing his future upon a fulltime return to the MXGP World Championship the following year.

After a four-year stint competing internationally, Ferris returned home to clinch this season’s Motul MX Nationals MX1 crown with the world-class CDR organisation and has recently extended his deal into next year.

However despite his current form in the Australian Supercross Championship, where he sits second after scoring podiums in two of three rounds to date, Ferris’ 2017 contract is a motocross-only agreement that could enable him to travel directly back to Europe following the conclusion of the MX Nationals in August.

“When we first negotiated a deal for 2017, it was before supercross started – we signed the contract at the first round,” CDR Yamaha owner Craig Dack explained. “Basically, he kind of mentioned throughout negotiations that he still wants to get back to Europe and still has that feeling within.

“It certainly seemed like he still has intentions of wanting to go back to Europe for 2018, so I think it was a combination of wanting to leave himself open to go and test at the end of next year, but the other reason is that he just hasn’t had much to do with supercross over the years and doesn’t have the passion for it that he does for motocross.

“I did say to him in negotiations that ‘look, if something happens next year and you want to stay for supercross, we will do that’, but it’s not written in stone, it’s just an open option and that’s it. After Jimboomba when he almost won I said ‘have you changed your mind yet about supercross?’ and he said ‘nah, not really’.”

With Ferris re-signed on a motocross-only contract and Dan Reardon setting himself up for a supercross-only deal for next year, it’s understood CDR is currently assessing options to sign an additional rider fulltime for next year.