WBR Bulk Nutrients Yamaha will sit out round six of the 2023 Penrite ProMX Championship at Toowoomba altogether, with its regular rider line-up yet to reach full fitness.

It’s been a troubled season for the WBR team, with premier class rider Bailey Malkiewicz yet to suit up in 2023, and MX2 entry Ryder Kingsford sidelined with a foot injury after the second round of the series at Appin.

While the pair are back on-track, they’re not yet ready to compete at the national level and will return for the final two rounds in August. Fill-in riders Matt Moss – now focused on World Supercross – and Maximus Purvis are both overseas at this point.

“We’ve got both Bailey and Ryder back on bikes now, which is great,” team manager Travis Whitten told MotoOnline. “They’re back riding fulltime, but they’re not at 100 percent yet. So, with the way that our season has gone, to put riders out on the race track that aren’t at 100 percent wasn’t really something we were keen to do – we just didn’t think it was a smart option. With a six-week break after Toowoomba, we decided to forego this round and, hopefully, if we utilise that break well, it’ll give us more time to be fully-prepared so we can try and come out swinging and do something decent for the last two rounds at QMP and Coolum.

“We’re shattered we won’t be at Toowoomba, we really feel like we’re missing out, but we thought this was the best decision for two reasons – one, being not causing another injury because we weren’t ready to race and, two being, actually being ready to come and compete for decent results.”

“Max was always just filling in until Bailey came back. So when Bailey started riding and we had the break after Gilman, we thought he was going to come back for Toowoomba, so Max returned home to New Zealand.”

The ProMX Championship heads to Toowoomba this weekend for the first time since 2017, heading a three-round stint of Queensland tracks to close out the 2023 season, with QMP (13 August) and Coolum (19-20 August) next up on the schedule.