Todd Waters Blog #2 – The Year So Far

Todd Waters offers up his thoughts on the 2016 MX Nationals, Australian Supercross Championship and Motocross of Nations. 

Hey everyone; Todd Waters here. I thought I’d drop a few lines on the last few months of racing. Last time I checked in was just after Murray Bridge’s round of the MX Nationals. To be honest, I thought I was gonna get on a roll from that win onwards – but it was not to be. I guess this is where any athlete begins to question themselves, and think, “why am I having so much bad luck?”

Wanneroo’s round of the MX Nationals was a huge challenge for me. I had a huge crash in Qualifying and some part of my bike jammed into my quad. Behind the scenes, I could barely move my leg. I kept trying to walk up and down the start straight waiting for the SuperPole to start, and from there, I just had to get into salvage mode and do the best I could. I utilised support from my team, my mum and dad, RaceSafe, and I also called my girlfriend who was back at home to get every bit of physical and mental help possible to make it through the round. I finished the round in third Overall.

^ Todd’s leg following Wanneroo’s MX Nationals round…

After Wanneroo, I contested the annual Manjimup 15,000 and won. I had some tough competition but was super happy to get my name on the perpetual trophy for the second time in my career alongside some legends such as Jeff Leisk and Andrew MacFarlane. That was a huge honour and a great race meet. We then went on a long break from racing, but I certainly wasn’t taking a holiday. My determination was at an all-time high, so my weeks consisted of training, testing, eating, sleeping and repeating that process, over and over again.

Nowra’s sixth round of the MX Nationals came around quickly. I was running third in moto one with three laps to go and my bike’s chain came off. I managed to get it back on and rode to the finish in fifth. After the race, the whole team was gutted with this result, and I found myself thinking to myself again, “what am I having so much shit luck!?”

At Conondale’s seventh round, I was fast and won the first moto convincingly, however in the second race I was too eager to get in the lead and make a mistake trying to go up the inside of Kade Mosig and I landed off the track and into a wall – which was not a great move! I worked hard from dead last (at least 50 seconds behind the leaders) all the way up to third. I was pretty mad about this result, as it could have been so much better.

Shepparton came around two weeks later and the second moto got the better of me. A first turn pile-up cost me valuable points but I scraped up a third in that race to claim second Overall. I was currently sitting third in the championship behind Kirk Gibbs and Dean Ferris, and the Aussie riders that would be selected for the 2016 Motocross of Nations would be the top-two in the MX1 championship by the end of the eighth round – meaning at this point, I’d missed out.

Anyway, the weeks went on and after winning Coolum’s MX Nationals finale, I ended up finishing the MX1 championship in third. As Dean and Kirk were both riding to the best of their ability to try and secure the championship, I felt really good about getting this win over them. A little while later, Gibbsy got been injured ahead of the opening round of the 2016 Australian Supercross Championship, meaning I’d be taking his place the the MXoN. I was pretty nervous as I had the opening round of SX to prepare for as well, but I tried to prepare for both events as well as I could.

At Jimboomba’s opening supercross round, I finished in fourth Overall. I was absolutely stoked on this, seeing as I haven’t raced supercross at all since I went to Europe a few years ago. I basically headed straight over to Italy after the race, and here I am now, getting ready for Maggiora’s 2016 Motocross of Nations. It’s the same circuit where I scored my first MXGP podium last year, so hopefully I can do my country proud.

That’s all for now, guys. I’ll check back in soon!