“Jake was the reserve, so he was already in the picture,” Dixon said. “ I spoke to Tommy and he needs an operation, he more or less ruled himself out of the team. He will race the next round of the Nationals, but will then have an operation.”

“We could have also selected Billy Mackenzie, who is racing the last two rounds of the AMA Nationals, but with the race just a few weeks away we needed to select the team. Jake will also have similar support that Tommy would have had, so that is also something that is positive.”