Young American Thomas Covington has confirmed that he will attempt a third season in the MX2 class of the FIM Motocross World Championship next year.

The 19-year-old is heavily rumoured to be breaking away from the Monster Energy Kawasaki team and is linked with Jacky Martens factory Husqvarna squad for 2016 where it is believed he will join Max Anstie on the works FC250s.

A shift away from Kawasaki technology will be a significant move for Covington who emerged and blossomed as part of Team Green’s talent programme in the USA before tackling the 2013 Qatar Grand Prix and then electing to stay in the FIM series.

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The athlete from Alabama has had to adjust to life in Europe and admitted that he was on the verge of returning to the USA after this season but had a change of heart. “Through the off-season and the first months I thought this would be my last year here and then I’d head back and get into supercross and motocross but as the season went on I had the feeling that ‘I cannot give up on the GPs just yet…’ because if I left now then I wouldn’t have done what I wanted to over here,” he said. “I’ve decided that I want to stick around for a few more years and at least to the end of my MX2 career.”

The biggest question for most MXGP fans concerning #64 is ‘what happened?’ From the first three rounds of 2015 in Qatar, Thailand and Argentina he posted four top-seven moto finishes from six motos but has only managed to get into the same spot once throughout the rest of the season while also dealing with injury niggles. He sits 14th in the championship.

“I always do well on the flyaways,” he explained. “I think it is the combination of the tracks being quite a bit different – more like I am used to – and then coming to Europe and finding those gnarly tracks! The first one was Arco [GP of Trentino] and in my opinion it is like one of the worst tracks ever! They don’t rip the tracks and they just soak them with water and I’m still learning how to go fast on them. In the off-season this year I will spend most of my time in Europe. I know I have the speed and ability to do it…but it is matter of showing it every weekend and staying strong mentally and being able to push even when I do have a bad weekend.”

When asked about his future Covington says: “I don’t have anything officially done yet” but does admit “I think I have put everything together over here quite well with my training mechanic Rene. I’ll be making some pretty big changes next year that will help me out significantly.”