Reigning DEWALT SXS Motorsport Australia Champion Jackson Evans has officially confirmed his place in this year’s championship with the Victorian excited by the prospect of defending his title.
Evans took out the 2019 championship after an epic Grand Final in the season finale where he managed to overcome a big deficit and win the round over season-long leader James Shipp, who endured a heartbreaking end to the season.
Evans’ victory saw him replace his father Simon as champion just 12 months after Simon took out the title in similar fashion - a season where Evans himself was just trying to establish himself in the championship.
Now with the four-round 2020 calendar to get underway at a new location in Traralgon, Evans is looking forward to becoming the hunted against fierce competition.
“I am looking forward to being the hunted rather than the hunter because for me, I perform better when I am under pressure, which is a hard thing for most people to do,” Jackson said.
“I find that when there is no pressure, I tend to stuff it up. I will enjoy that pressure of everyone trying to take me down because it will just keep pushing me to do better.
“I can’t wait to get restarted again. I have been building a lot of customer cars in the off-season which has kept me really busy, but once we line our cars up on the start line for the first time, I will be relieved because the hard part of getting customers ready is done.
“Racing is the easy part because it’s just a reaction. There isn’t a heap of thought to it. I am just counting down the days.”
Jackson isn’t the only member of the Evans family to have entered the 2020 SXS season with Simon, uncle Tom and his sister Eden all confirming their spots.
With the previous two champions making up half the Evans team, and Jackson himself receiving a new sponsorship deal with Polaris, the small battle within the family will just as entertaining as the whole championship.
“My sister is going to have a run now which is pretty cool, and she is pretty confident despite not having too much practice,” Jackson explained,
“Tommy is raring to go, we’ve almost finished Dad’s car and my new ride is looking very good too.
“After we won last year, we managed to get a deal with Polaris where I was able to build my own car from scratch under its banner.
“There will be a little bit more to the rivalry within the Evans, because I also signed up with Tensor tyres, whereas dad is still sponsored by BFGoodrich, so it will be a small side battle there and hopefully I can get my tyres on top.”
“I have put all the things I want in the and brought it a few extra changes, like the tyres, so at this point, we’re just excited to get into it against and put it all to the test.”
Jackson begins his title defence at the Championship’s first round at the Traralgon Motorcycle Club on 25 July.