Nathan Watson causes a stir on enduro scene
By TMX Archives on 17th Feb 16
KTM rookie Nathan Watson bagged himself a double overall win at round one of the Italian Enduro Championships in Lignano.
Hot out of the traps on both days, the young Brit has shown he's more than up to the challenge by claiming victory at his first time of asking in enduro.
It's safe to say that Nathan Watson was easily the stand-out performer at the opening round and, amazingly, prior to the race in Lignano the convert from motocross had never raced a timecard enduro.
That's right, he'd never filled in a timecard or changed a tyre under the pressure of the 15-minute work period. Yet come the end of two tough days of racing, Watson was standing on the top step of the podium having won both days outright.
Okay, as a top 15 MXGP guy last year and runner-up at the Red Bull Knock Out, Watson has form. Especially in sand. But against a wealth of talent – including Alex Salvini, Johnny Aubert and Eero Remes – the KTM rookie still out-played his world championship peers in astonishing fashion.
"I don't know where I'm at really,” he said. "It's a mix of happy and stunned.
"I never expected to win, let alone win both days so it's amazing.
"I never rode a timecard enduro before. Maybe about five years ago I rode a sprint enduro in the UK but that's about it. It's pretty cool to win first time out but it's just been one race.
"I feel most comfortable in the sand, I always like beach races so that test was a big help to me.
"But to be equally fast on the cross test was a confidence boost too. On Sunday, when it got really tough, the top guys were hauling so I'm happy to have been pretty close to their times.
"I know there's plenty of room to improve so it's a matter of chipping away and working hard to get better.
"We've got a lot of testing planned in Spain and Italy so it's a matter of just keep working hard with the team to be somewhere ready for when the world championship begins in Morocco.
"We've also got the next round of the Italian series in about two weeks time so I'm looking forward to that.
"It'll be cool to go there as the leader but I'm told it's going to be a tough one so again I just want to keep learning and not expect too much of myself.”
