I was told a rumor yesterday from one of our MXGP sources that Englishman Max Anstie would be packing his bags and heading back to the US on a Suzuki for 2020. After hearing that and passing it on, MotoXAddicts contributor Chris Cooksey confirmed from one of his sources that the 26-year-old is coming to US and he was told that the former MXGP moto winner would be joining the HEP Suzuki team.

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Max started his professional career in the US back in 2009 and he had some fairly decent results—finishing as high as 4th in a 250SX main event—but he went back to Europe to contest the MX2 World Championship in 2011. After scoring quite a few MX2 overall wins and finishing as high as 3rd in the Championship, Max moved up to MXGP in 2017. In his rookie year on the 450, Max was solid with two overall MXGP podium finishes and he amazed everyone with an incredible 1-1 finish in front of his home country at the 2017 Motocross of Nations. Since then, injuries have really hampered Max but he did go on to score a couple more MXGP overall podiums and even an MXGP moto win in Belgium earlier this year.

I was surprised to begin with that Max was heading back to the US, but what surprises me, even more, is to hear that he is signing with HEP—who is SX only. I am hoping we will hear later that HEP is going outdoors or that Max has another plan for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship because on any given day he can straight-up beat any rider in the world outdoors. For now, while we got this confirmed from a solid source, it is still only a rumor until we get a press release from the team. Check back later for the official word and a possible interview with the Englishman.

Update on more big HEP’s moves for 2020:

Since writing the above report, I just got word that Max Anstie will be riding a 250f in Supercross and 450f outdoors. I was also told that Martin Davalos also tested the HEP 450 for indoors and out. Unfortunately, word is Alex Ray is out at HEP while Kyle Chisholm and Adam Enticknap may still be with the team.

Stay tuned as the HEP team’s moves for 2020 develope. They’re obviously going big in 2020 and hopefully beyond that.

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Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.