Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto will roll the dice and switch to Kawasaki’s brand new 2012 model KX450F to complete the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship.

Villopoto currently enjoys a slender single point lead in the series with four rounds remaining, but both he and teammate Jake Weimer will debut the new model this weekend at Unadilla.

With a heavily revised chassis and cockpit, the switch marks a gamble of sorts for the team, however testing during two weeks off in the series has them confident it’s ready to race.

“We could tell right away that the guys were comfortable on the bike and after successful testing over the break, we decided to go ahead and race it,” said motocross team manager Mike Fisher.

“Having the option to go to the 2012 KX450F gives us an advantage over our competition to utilise the latest technology that has been provided to us by Kawasaki.”

Villopoto currently leads the championship ahead of Ryan Dungey and Australia’s Chad Reed.

Kawasaki’s new model was released in June, the first of next year’s models to debut this year.