Yamaha has officially launched its off-road program for 2013 tonight, which is partially why this is a super late edition of the Off-Road Observations column this week. Of course we already knew that CDR would be taking over the operation, but now Yamaha has made it officially official…

A low key launch of the eve of the Australian Motocross Championship launch, Yamaha hosted the evening at the Raymond Terrace Ten Pin Bowling lanes, for all of its dirt bike race teams including CDR, Serco, GYTR and AJ Roberts’ Active8 squad.

It’s a class line-up with some very quality talent in the mix, so it was a neat opportunity for the media to rub shoulders with the riders and their respective teams in the low-pressure environment. And we must add, A4DE champ Daniel Milner is a real bowling talent!

The CDR Yamaha team is proven in motocross with over 20 years in the sport and winner of the past five MX Nationals titles in the premier MX1 class. The off-road division will be run separately to the motocross team for the most part, creating a new challenge for Craig Dack and his crew entering the 2013 season.

Dack said tonight that it’s actually great for the team to be working with the new WR450F that Stefan Merriman will race this year in E2, because while they’ve well and truly got the YZ450F sorted over the past three years, applying those lessons learnt to the WR is a whole new challenge (not to mention the different terrain, etc, that off-road racing features).

Merriman and Milner’s bikes share many of the same components that we’re accustomed to seeing on the CDR race bikes in years past, adding exposure for Dack’s army of sponsors and also Yamaha now has an aligned team in both divisions at the top of the sport.

The riders are happy with the progress made so far as well, because while they’re used to the press generated by enduro racing around Australia, working side-by-side with the likes of Billy Mackenzie and Lawson Bopping will help to raise the profile of the sport (and vice-versa in a lot of instances as well).

As Dack pointed out tonight, it’s actually a very similar structure they have when it comes to rider selection as well. In motocross they have Mackenzie, who is a former World Motocross GP winner, plus Aussie rising star Bopping. Off-road, it’s Merriman who has the European experience as world champion, while Milner’s quickly climbing the ladder as the young Aussie on the team.

While CDR hasn’t actually campaigned a 250F in motocross for quite a few years, they do have a lot of experience with the YZ250F and of course I’m certain they’d be bouncing ideas off Serco if they’re looking for any quick tips on development for Milner’s E2 mount. Yamaha also obviously has the experience of the Ballard team for a number of years as well.

Speaking of Ballard, an interesting announcement was made today that Geoff will be fielding a down-sized team in 2013 with Jessica Gardiner at the helm on a 300cc Sherco two-stroke. It’ll be titled the Ballard’s Offroad Motorex Team, plus Jess will also continue her European adventures in the world championship.

It’s shaping up to be an incredible year ahead as the opening round of the Australian Off-Road Championship moves closer, which we can’t wait to cover in the season to come.