It’s all paying off for Wairoa’s Watts

Wairoa’s Tommy Watts on his way to overall runner-up spot in the national 125cc class at the New Zealand Motocross Championships. Picture by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

All the hard work, long hours and dedication to the task have been rewarded for Wairoa motocross racer Tommy Watts.

The 2018 New Zealand Motocross Championships wrapped up with the fourth and final round in Taupo on Saturday and 16-year-old Watts was thrilled to be on the second step of the series podium in the national 125cc class.

He was just 15 points behind championship winner and Kiwi international Maximus Purvis.

Watts had started the day in fourth position on the championship table, behind Mangakino’s Purvis, Australian visitor Mason Semmens and Rotorua’s Joshua Bourke-Palmer.

But he rode his HLR Husqvarna Racing Team TC125 to runner-up finishes in each of Saturday’s three 125cc races. That was enough to propel him to the No.2 spot for the series overall.

The hunt for national 125cc class honours was made a little easier for Purvis when Semmens crashed out of the first race on Saturday and took no further part in the day’s racing.

Bourke-Palmer finished with a 3-3-4 scorecard for the day and Watts came on strong with his performance.

“I wanted to get a top-five result at least,” Watts said.

“I wasn’t very happy with getting only 10th overall for Round 1. I just couldn’t gel with the track that day. But things got better after that.

“Round 3 at Fernhill was quite good for me, especially when the rain came in. I ride in the mud a lot at the farm with Dad. I usually don’t like the Taupo track . . . well I like it, but it’s not one of my favourites. But it was great for me here today.

“It’s tough for Mason (Semmens) that he crashed out like he did, but that’s motocross sometimes.

“Nobody really knew who I was when I came into this championship, but maybe they do now. I have been racing a 125cc bike for only eight or nine months, and this was my senior debut.”

A Year 12 boarding student at Napier Boys’ High School, Watts has been ringing a few warning bells with his motocross racing over the past couple of years.

Last November Watts collected the 2017 Wairoa Junior Sportsperson of the Year award and was then called back to the stage to collect the night’s top honour, overall Sportsperson of the Year.

Watts would be the first to say that the plaudits for hard work and long hours go also to the people who helped make it all possible for him — his parents, Bronnie and Graeme, his mechanic Jimmy Ashton, suspension guru Craig Guy, HLR Husqvarna Racing Team manager Howard Lilly and Patrick Stafford, of Husqvarna New Zealand.

Watts will be back next season to race for Husqvarna again at the senior nationals. No doubt he will continue to fulfil the potential he has shown this year.