Almost a decade since its arrival on the professional motocross and supercross scene, the Penrite Racing Empire Kawasaki team has steadily progressed into one of the top organisations inside the paddock. This hasn’t happened by chance or luck, however, this rise has been the result of grit, passion and determination, pushing forward even when quitting would seem – to most – the easier option. In this Industry interview, MotoOnline spoke with team owner Tyson Cherry to detail the journey so far, while looking ahead into 2025 and beyond.

Image: Foremost Media.

Hello Tyson, how are you, mate?

Good. Busy with the workshop fit out and everything else, but good.

2025 has arrived and we’re not far from round one of the ProMX championship in Wonthaggi. Where is everything at with yourself and the team currently?

Well, we raced round one of the Victorian state titles in Wonthaggi with Luke [Clout], which was a testing session for him and was a positive weekend. We only adjusted a couple of shock settings, a couple of changes on the bike to get him comfortable. We’ve walked out of there with him feeling super comfortable going into the opening round now, just changed a couple of settings with the bike setup. Taylah [McCutcheon] is in New Zealand, and will hopefully take out a title over there, so her pre-season has been going well. And then Cambell [Williams] has just got back on the bike last week after injury. He’s only on the rut track at the moment, so for him we’re taking things day by day.

Starting with Luke, I don’t think you’ve worked with a guy of that caliber or at that level before. What has your experience been having Luke a part of the team? Are you happy with what you see and the dynamic?

Yeah, it’s really good. Last year we came in a little bit unprepared, he was coming back from injury, and then the testing on the new bike, we changed a few things with the suspension and so on, so we had a bit of a slow start, which was understandable. But, you know, he’s been showing a lot of speed with the KX450F now, he knows what he wants and can tell you exactly what he needs to do with things like the sag or dropping a mil or two in the front end, that type of stuff. So it’s been good. He’s given us a lot of direction. Then with Brad [McAlpine] and his brother [Aaron Clout] here, they all work really well together. So it’s been pretty simple with that type of stuff.

Image: Foremost Media.

We saw a big switch up last year, getting both Brad and Luke onboard. How was the adjustment getting those two in the program?

Yeah, with Brad, it was more of a structuring thing – being more on time, you know, and just taking the stress off myself with packing the truck or having that knowledge behind us to change something that sometimes we didn’t know whether it was the right thing to do. Brad’s knowledge, he’s been around for a long time, and has been at the top with a lot of top teams and top riders, so it’s great that I can put a lot of trust in him as a manager. That’s a big thing that we’ve been missing, was a right-hand man. Someone I can say, ‘Hey, we need to grind today and we need to get shit done.’ I know he’s got my back no matter what and will do whatever it takes. That’s what we have been missing.

What brought on this change of further investment?

I personally was at a point where it was either go all in or pack it up. There’s only so many times you can get a fourth, fifth or sixth, sometimes even further behind, so I was at a point where I needed to go, ‘Well, I’m throwing everything at it, and hopefully it works out.’ It’s been a gamble in that aspect that I was hoping, if I do get the right riders, do get the right names, then things will start to come our way, which it has started to do that. And I think this year, with having Penrite as a naming rights partner shows that people are looking at us and committing to being behind us, and they have been amazing to work with since day one and share the same passion for the sport. So yeah, it’s been a massive step for us.

And this move to the new workshop, this seems another extension of that.

One hundred percent. We’re in the heart of Richmond now. We’ve got every supercar brand behind us. We’ve got a Ferrari race team next to us, Dutton [Garage] is behind us, which are multi-million dollar companies and in the same world as us, racing wise. So that speaks to our step up as well. I’ve got a big vision that, if I pull it off, will be pretty cool. But, yeah, that’s just the next step again, to get into that scene where there’s a lot of money, to draw on new sponsors and do some things that haven’t been done so far.

Image: Foremost Media.

You and the team have been around for a while now, which takes a lot of passion and dedication to stay around for so long. Is this next evolution to take this thing to the top?

Eight years, I think we’ve been around for now, and there have been plenty of times that I have wanted to throw it in, you know that. But this workshop, our partners, our riders – I want to be the team. I want people to want to ride for us, to be a part of our atmosphere because we do things a little differently, which switches things up from the norm, whilst having all the performance behind us to back it up on track. In a nutshell, I want to be the team, you know, that’s one of the best, if not the best.

Lastly, what does a successful 2025 look like for the team?

We want to podium both motocross and supercross with Luke, there’s no real question asked there. That’s what we’re going for. That’s what I think we deserve and he deserves as a rider. For the 250’s it’s a little bit more of a work in progress. In motocross, we’ll work with Cambell and his injury, but we’re hoping he’ll start in the top 10 and then move towards the top five, we think he’s more than capable of that. Then with Tayla, we’re going for a championship with her, which I think she can do if she’s in the right mind frame.

Sounds exciting, mate, and it’s super-cool to see this step up towards the next level.

Thanks, mate. As I’ve said, it’s been busy, but I wanted to go all in and make some cool things happen.