For the 2025 season, Steve Dixon made the decision to focus his DRT Kawasaki efforts on the EMX250 Championship with British talent Bobby Bruce. There were also plans to contest the WMX series with Courtney Duncan, but unfortunately, the multi-time World Champion has been sidelined for the entire season due to ongoing health issues.
That left the team without an MX2 GP presence for much of the year—until recently. At the British Championship round at Preston Docks, young Dutch rider Kay Karssemakers made his debut with the team. Shortly after, he lined up for the Belgian GP at Lommel, representing DRT Kawasaki on the world stage.
Following those promising outings, Steve Dixon has now confirmed to us that Karssemakers will race the remainder of the MX2 World Championship rounds under the DRT awning. It’s an exciting opportunity for both parties as the Dutch rider gets a chance to further prove himself in the highly competitive MX2 class.
“After running the Nations last year, I just wanted a little bit of a quieter year,” Dixon explained. “Kawasaki wants to push on now, fair play to Kawasaki UK and Europe. They wanted to push the British riders. With Bobby Bruce and last year with Billy Askew and Taylor Hammal. The double-edged sword is you need the results for the sponsors. Next year we’ll come back in the MX2 World Championship and that was already the plan. We are starting to get ready because of Bobby’s knee injury. We’re starting to get ready for next year. We needed someone for Preston Docks so Kay (Karssemakers) came over and did well. He’s a nice guy as well. We would like to continue with him for next year. For the rest of this year, we’ll do all the rounds with him – we’ll do Sweden, Arnhem, Turkey, China and Australia – we’re doing everything. From slowing right down, getting ready for next year. We’re sort of now going flat out.”
It’s a rapid shift in gears for the British-based team, who now face a demanding schedule for the rest of the season with a nine-week run of races ahead.
“It’ll be nine weeks in a row that will be so we just got to keep an eye on development for next year. We are here in Lommel and we literally have never been on the bike with Kay here in the sand. We know that it is going to be difficult, but I said to Kay beforehand, we’re not expecting anything for this season. You just need to race and the more races you do, the better it is for you. We can learn a bit from you but there is absolutely zero time to test.”
Despite the tight turnaround and heavy logistics involved with such a global calendar, Dixon remains as committed and passionate as ever.
“We literally come to Lommel then go back Landrake and it’s back out to Sweden, then to Arnhem. After that we need to get stuff ready to go to Australia. We will have two bikes that will go down to Turkey and China so logistically and prep we’re just going with the flow.
“I said to Kay, I’m 99% sure that most teams would just say no because it’s too much hassle. But, you know, I do thrive on hassle, and it doesn’t bother me. I’m the oldest team in the paddock. I think it’s like 36 years this year, I still love it, enjoy it and look forward to every day. Of course there are hard times, but I wake up every day, looking forward to work.”
With Karssemakers getting valuable seat time and DRT regaining a visible presence in the MX2 paddock, the final stretch of the 2025 season promises to be a busy but potentially rewarding one for all involved.
Looking ahead to 2026 it’ll be great to see DRT Kawasaki back contesting a full MX2 World Championship season. Fingers crossed the team are able to secure Karssemakers for the 2026 and then sign up another MX2 GP rider as well.
You can watch the entire interview with Dixon, below:
