It’s been a rollercoaster year for multi-time Australian champion Kyron Bacon, who was announced to the Italian-based MGR-ASI Kawasaki team in February, with the following seven months seeing the Tasmanian experience the entire spectrum of European off-road racing. In Profiled, MotoOnline gets his take on the season so far, as well as his recent 6DAYS success.

Enduro covers a lot of ground when it comes to the different forms, from the more open-style competition as seen in the United States’ Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) series, which also happens to be a hallmark of the domestic Australian Enduro Championship.

There is also the tighter, more technical side, which features rocky, steep, undulating terrain, akin to what is largely seen throughout the EnduroGP World Championship, which is where talented 23-year-old Bacon has been in 2025, competing at the top of the J2 class in events across Europe.

As is the case with anyone moving to the other side of the world, something of this magnitude is no small shift, which the Australian rider noted when asked about his first full-time year overseas.

“It’s been a rollercoaster of a year so far, that’s for sure,” reflected Bacon. “It is completely different over here compared to back home, with everything really. The bikes are different, the tyres are different, and even just living in general – everything is really strange in the beginning.

“Just for example, at home we get to ride on the motocross tyre, whereas over here we need to run the FIM road-legal tyre, which takes a while to get used to especially when tipping the bike into corners. It’s just little things like that that you don’t really anticipate but they creep up on you.

Image: Supplied.

“It’s been one hell of a ride, that is for sure. It’s been good, though, and it’s a sacrifice to come over here and compete, but I wanted to show everyone what I can do. I want to have a good crack at it, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do this year.”

On the results side, it’s almost as good as one could expect for year one, given the circumstances. Fast pace, round wins, combined with some inconsistency throughout the season is par for the course in a way, as a rider continues to find their feet in an entirely new arrangement.

“Year one, I would say it’s been decent. We started off really well by winning the first two rounds, which was awesome and a good start,” he added. “I think I had an eight-point lead going into the next round, but in the lead-up to that I got really sick. My stomach was not in a good place, so we were lucky to get a podium on day one in Spain and even finish on day two.

“We turned things around a bit in Sweden, then the last round in Wales started good, but then yeah, first test of the day, I had a big crash and knocked myself out. So, it’s been a very big up and down year, but the speed has been there, so that’s a good thing.”

Speed is instrumental and consistency can build from there. Especially when it comes to learning the tracks and the style of racing, along with the different terrain that is to be expected throughout the season.

“I’m still learning, it’s a lot different from home,” Bacon explained. “Back home, our tests are a lot more motocross style tests – you know, full gas and a lot less thinking I would say than over here. Everything is so close and tight on times, that one little mistake can move you from inside the top 10 to 30th, and your day is wrecked.

Image: Supplied.

“The racing is just really technical. Riding the rocks so much, I feel like I’ve improved a lot. Even at the 6DAYS, it was those sections that I was gaining all my time – especially on the Aussie guys – so it’s been an advantage living in Italy and riding their rocky conditions all the time.”

Rider-wise, it’s undoubtedly a big adjustment, although the same goes for the machine, with Bacon having moved from Yamaha equipment in Australia to the Italian Kawasaki package this year.

Adjusting the bike to suit the conditions, an updated riding technique, and a totally different platform have been an undertaking within itself, especially given the level of access in his current program.

“I’ve learnt a lot about set-up, too,” he continued. “The set-up I used to run back home, I can’t run here. It’s got to be way softer. From the mooses, to tyres, and suspension – everything is softer, and we do tons more testing. At home we might do two or three days of testing before we race, whereas here, I’ve lost count of how much testing we’ve done…it’s been crazy [laughs].

“It’s impressive what the teams are willing to do for the riders. The testing side is rewarding when you’re able to drop 10 seconds off your time, that’s a real eye opener, but at the same time, I reckon we’ve tried 10 different sets of suspension in the bike this year and always end up back at square one, which can be super-frustrating.”

Moving forward to this year’s edition of the 6DAYS FIM Enduro of Nations, Bacon got the call-up to compete in the Junior World Trophy Team (JWT) alongside countrymen Gus Riordan (FMF KTM Factory Racing Team Landers) and Korey McMahon (KTM DM31 Racing Team), with the trio earning third overall in the teams classification.

Image: Supplied.

As for an individual scorecard, Bacon posted a scintillating performance at the 99th running of the event held in Bergamo, Italy, powering to victory in the Junior division, with P2 in the E2 class and sixth outright highlighting what was a highly successful showing at the iconic race.

“This 6DAYS was the best event of the year I reckon – just the whole atmosphere was wild,” the Aussie stated. “It’s so cool how everyone gets together and we all go racing for 6DAYS, it’s special. As for me personally, it went pretty well – although I had only ridden three times since crashing in Wales. I was a bit groggy to begin with, but then after the first day something clicked, and yeah, things turned out quite good.

“We had around six tests per day, and this year was actually quite an easy 6DAYS compared to the last two years. We had a lot of road riding this year, which was a bit sketchy on the freeway with busy traffic, but all in all, it was a lot less riding. Overall, it was special, and I was stoked to deliver a good result.”

As stated, it’s been a big year for the young rider out of Tasmania, who upended his life to move to the other side of the world chasing the dream. It’s a tough ask for anyone, although with the results sheet reading as well as it does, it makes sense to take on the world’s best riders.

“I do miss home a lot, my friends, and family and whatnot. So on one hand it’s cool to be over here and testing myself against the best in the world, but I do enjoy having a life outside of motorbikes, which is what I have at home,” he admitted.

“You’ve got to make sacrifices at times though, and this is a hard decision to make, but with my results going the way that they have been recently, I think that I am definitely looking to be over here for a while, for sure.”