Todd Waters Blog #1 – A Fresh Start

Todd Waters offers up his thoughts on leaving the MXGP series behind for season 2016, the New Zealand motocross scene and the opening rounds of the 2016 Australian MX Nationals. 

What’s up, everybody? Todd Waters here with my first blog post for 2016.

In preparation for our return to racing motocross in Australia, we decided to get our feet wet with a five-race campaign in New Zealand. The New Zealand Motocross Championship was a nice way to remind myself how relaxed and fun racing motocross can be – a big difference from the various pressures of the MXGP series.

I had support from Suzuki New Zealand to race for the MC2 Pirelli Suzuki Factory team. Overall, my speed was good but my starts were terrible and cost me a lot of race wins. We had our ups and downs and finished third in the championship against some tough competition.

^ Image: Lauran Robinson

I knew I had work to do with the bike and my starts heading into round one of the Australian MX Nationals. I guess another part that I had to work on was the headspace I was in. I’m not gonna lie, but at this stage, I was still trying to get my head around not racing the GPs. I also spent a bit of time with my Sports Psychologist, Dr Clive Jones, which has helped a bunch.

Don’t get me wrong; I loved the challenge of racing the MXGP series, but it was the rest of the package that came along with it. The lifestyle was the polar opposite to what I had grown up with and the people I was surrounded by were also different to what I was used to. I still have the competitive feeling and dream of going back someday to race on the world stage but it will have to be on my own terms. I believe the results we achieved were amazing but I also believe given the right environment, I have a lot more to offer.

Round one of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals in Horsham, Victoria, snuck up on us fast. I was confident with my speed but knew my bike and starts still needed refining.

Horsham is a four-hour drive from the Melbourne airport and is a tiny, rural town. Regardless of the location, for the first time in a long while I got a feeling I had been chasing the whole time I was racing the world GPs – the feeling of fun! This is the reason I ride. Racing my bike and having a good time doing it. And I had a ball catching up with so many friendly faces.

Unfortunately, the racing side of things didn’t go the way the team or I expected. But that’s racing. Sometimes you do your best to prepare and things just don’t go your way. We suffered a flat front tyre in moto one while battling with good friend and training buddy, Kirk Gibbs, for second place. I was still hucking the big jumps and hoping like hell the tyre would stay on the rim and I would stay on the bike! We salvaged a ninth place and fifth Overall.

Of course, there is one good thing that comes from a bad result, and that’s a newfound determination and focus to do better and ride faster!

Round two of the MX Nats at Appin in New South Wales was better and I did ride faster. At the start of the day the track suited me and it showed in my qualifying result. In the first race I was the hare and some stiff competition got the better of me. A decision to run with a new Pirelli hard pack tyre allowed me to salvage a second in moto two, giving me third Overall for the day. The championship standings are still extremely close and at this stage it is still anybody’s for the taking. In the past I have come out on fire in the first half of the season, winning most races, and then I get injured and finish runner-up – I’ve done this far too many times. So at this stage, no stress!

I’m excited to keep you guys in the loop with my results and offer up an insight into the personal side of racing and being a professional motocross rider.

Bring on some sand, baby!

Note: Waters went 1-4 to finish in third Overall at Broadford, Victoria (round three of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals) and now holds third in the MX1 championship standings ahead of Murray Bridge’s round in South Australia.