Recently-crowned 125cc junior motocross world champion and reigning Pirelli MX Nationals MXD title-holder Bailey Malkiewicz has failed to secure a deal at this stage of the 2019 silly season, despite establishing himself as one the most well-credentialed rising stars in the sport.

Following a stellar campaign at WBR Yamaha in the official MXD team, 17-year-old Malkiewicz has indicated that a miscommunication between he and Yamaha Motor Australia management led to him being out of a ride for next season.

“At the moment I don’t have anything, but the plan is to stay in Australia for one more year and race MX2,” Malkiewicz revealed to MotoOnline.com.au. “After a bit of miscommunication between riders and teams, they [Yamaha] filled up their spots and didn’t have anything for me – they lost me and put on another rider. It’s alright, I’ll just have to find somewhere else.

“I was thinking of going to Europe to race next year and I think Yamaha thought I was already doing that, so that’s one of the reasons why they signed a rider before anything happened. I think I’ll just stay here for another year and head over to Europe in 2020.

“We’ll see what happens – I don’t have anything on paper at the moment, so I can’t really do anything about. After getting two titles this year, I feel confident I’ll get some good support behind me for the year to come and have the best chance of getting a title in MX2.”

Malkiewicz’ departure from Yamaha means the manufacturer will lose all three of its MX Nationals championship-winning riders from 2018, with three-time MX1 champion Dean Ferris heading to the US and MX2 victor Wilson Todd tipped to be joining the factory-backed DPH Motorsport Husqvarna.

The number 47’s former MXD-based team WBR Yamaha announced its line-up for 2019 earlier this week, confirming Queenslander Jack Kukas and New Zealand’s Maximus Purvis will make up its under 19s efforts in the new year. Serco Yamaha and Yamalube Yamaha Racing have also formally confirmed their two-rider squads for next season.