Published On: 24 maart 2014

AAustralian Todd Waters is a brand new name in both the ONK and GP events. The Australian is in Europe for the first time to race against the best motocross riders in the world. If a true European rider agrees, the factory Husqvarna rider decided to ride the ONK in Mill and to complement his competition program. What he thinks of his first year in Europe so far, you can read below.

Todd, this is your first ONK, what did you expect when you drove into the paddock this morning?

I expected sand, lots and lots of sand. You always hear that the Dutch are good in loose sand and we got sand. The typical rough jumps with deep ruts, straight stretches where you go slowly through the gigantic cuts... it really is a technical circuit. I fought against myself and against the track all day. It's not the type of circuit where you can get into a flow and that was really dying. But to become a good World Cup rider you have to be able to ride in the sand once.

In the last lap of the first series you were passed and finished second, what was wrong?

At the end of these races there are quite a lot of doubled riders and because I had been fighting for a whole series, I was less able to deal with that than normal. The result itself does not matter to me, it is especially important that I can build up a good feeling in the sand and work on my technique. As you can see and I feel, that is still necessary ;-).

Mike Kras knocked you, do you know him?

I don't even know half the GP riders (laughs). In Australia we see very little GP coverage, which makes it difficult to know the guys here, let alone know anyone from the Dutch championships. It's really all new to me, new people, new circuits, new team... it's a completely new lifestyle.

Next week Brazil, that's already the 3e GP on another continent, how does it feel to travel so much?

That is also something completely new for me, I am not used to long travel. Racing every weekend is also new for me and all of that together has an impact on my body. From the Italian championship until now I have had competitions every weekend, well last week I had a RedBull training camp, but it is a tough and full competition programme. It's a leap into the depths, but all in all I really enjoy staying here and I can get used to it.

 

Text & Photo: Frederik 'VePix.be' Van Eeckhoven