MX Nationals number three Adam Monea has revealed he won’t race professional motocross in 2016 after missing out on a premium factory ride for the upcoming season.

In an exclusive interview with MotoOnline.com.au, the 27-year-old Monea declared his time is a racer is up, not willing to race for less than his market value.

The exit of Monea comes at a frustrating point in his career, finishing third in last year’s MX1 ranks outdoors before racing to podiums during supercross.

However an untimely injury at the AUS-X Open effectively left the Victorian outside of the spotlight during the peak of the silly season, when the NPE Monster Energy Kawasaki team opted to sign Kade Mosig alongside Moss brothers Matt and Jake.

“I had a big crash in qualifying at the Sydney supercross that came at pretty much the worst time possible from a contractual point of view,” Monea told MotoOnline.com.au.

“I think what really sucked the most is I was having the best year of my career. I had five podiums and third overall in the MX Nationals – even though I didn’t necessarily enjoy it some days and I worked through that – and had podiumed in supercross as well. It was a bit shitty to end the year on my head.

“My injury came at the worst time, as no-one wants to hire an injured rider. There were some communication mix-ups that went down that didn’t help either.

“I’ve had to really evaluate things. I value myself as a professional so I won’t go racing for a figure that’s too low, or with a team that I don’t believe has the right equipment – that would just be short-changing myself.

“You know, I wasn’t out there to win a championship for Kawasaki, I was there to do it for Adam Monea. I value my work and I need to believe in what equipment I’m using. There’re only a few rides out there that I could do that with.”

Monea is adamant this is it for his professional racing career right now as it stands, instead eager to open his horizons without his focus on competing for championships on the national level.

“Professionally, yeah [it’s over],” he confirmed. “I’ll never stop riding motos though. I loved them the first moment I laid eyes on them and I’m lucky to be good at riding them. I can’t see myself going back to professional racing with the way the industry is though.

“There are things I do want to do though – I’m very attracted to Hattah and the Ironman events where you’re riding for six hours and not for some 15-second Insta-banger. Maybe some mountain-biking or downhill racing. There’re so many things I want to do and I’m now in the position where can start looking at them.”

Monea spent time out of the sport between 2010 and 2011 before making a fulltime comeback as part of the Team Zero Seven Motorsports squad in MX2, later signed to Kawasaki’s official MX1 program in 2013 and remaining there for three seasons.

The complete detailed Catching Up interview with Monea can be found via this link on MotoOnline.com.au posted earlier this morning.