Jed Metcher, the 2011 FIM European Superstock 600 Champion, has this morning confirmed to AMCN that he will unfortunately miss the opening round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship, which will run in conjunction with the Yamaha Finance round of the 2017 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, due to needing more testing time.

Metcher, who finished in second position overall at this year’s International Challenge at the Australian Motorcycle News International Island Classic was going to race a Yamaha 2015 YZF-R1 supplied by Rylee Simons from Geelong in Victoria.

“It’s disappointing that I won’t make the grid for the opening round of the ASBK, but considering the plans came to tuition late on it’s the right decision” said the 26-year-old, who has only ridden this Yamaha R1 twice at Broadford’s State Motorcycle Sports Complex – once being in November and last Friday.

“We are not up to speed yet and due to the small budget we are running on, it is smarter to take a little more time to ensure results.”

Metcher plans on doing the second round of the ASBK championship, which will take place at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway on the third last weekend of March.

“We are planning on doing round two and a few other selected rounds of this year’s championship. We don’t have the budget to do the full season,” admitted Metcher, who has ten European Superstock 600 podiums and one Superstock 1000 podium to his name.

Metcher did also give his opinion on the state of play of this year’s ASBK series by saying; “It’s amazing to see the grids in all classes so full. From where the ASBK was a few years ago to think it has fully come back this strong is a huge credit to the competitors, the series and Motorcycling Australia. It would be great to see the entries stay as they are for the full season!”

Words & Image: Russell Colvin