Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128627
Shane Watts Don't let that i n n o c e nt expression or mellow demeanor fool you: Shane Watts is rocket·fast on a motorcycle, and ruthlessly competitive. He's also well on his way to becoming the 2000 GNCC Champion. STORY AND PHOTOS BY PAUL C LIPPER/TRAIL RIDER MAGAZINE eadi ng the A M A Gr a n d Nationa l C r o ss • , . . . . Co untr y Ch amp io nsh ip rig ht now is a 28 yea r- o ld A ustralian by th e name of Shane W atts. We fir st heard h is nam e as a w ild yo ung Aussie racing th e European Wo rld Enduro Champio nshi p s und er th e wing of th e Fa ri oli Team in It al y. Although he alread y had a winnin g rep utati on in Au stralia , t o m o st Ameri cans h e seemed to e m e r ge o u t of nowhere, occ asionally winn in g World Enduro round s outright , and th en going on to lead th e 199 7 ISDE in Ital y (apparentl y o n his way to dethron ing Gio vanni Sala ) until a fina l-m ot o crash stopped his ch arge and caused th e fi rst of tw o fam ous knee inj uries. He went on to win th e Six Days outright the next ye ar, pra ctically in h is home town in Maffra , Victoria. Both ye ars h e led the S ix Days on a 12 5, a feat no t believed possible in rec ent years, earni ng himself a reputation as a 125cc rider to be ser iously reck o ned with . He came to th e U.S. in 1999, looking for a good time and out to see the country , an d hop ing to earn his way ra c ing his KTM when he could. He natura lly gravitated t o t he GN CC ser i es and pro c eed ed t o dom inate the early -seaso n eve nts, once agai n on a -4 0 AUGUST 23. 2000' cue I e 125 . He rapidly ac quired the po ints lead , bu t during a frantic race schedu le th at includ ed jumping from the U .S. t o Europe to Aus tr alia , he suf fere d a seco nd k nee inj u ry that p u t h im out of c on tention fo r nearl y the rest of the season . He came back to the St at es at the en d of the GNCC season last year, w ith a li mp and a po int to pro ve, won the last two events of the series , and prom ised hed be b a c k i n 2000 wi t h a good k nee and a hun g er for fi rstplace brass. So far , he' s m ad e good o n th at prom ise. With five w ins in nine rides so far, he lea ds th e pack in po in ts. T o m ak e i t in te resti ng, h e h a s a lso been switchin g b ik es every two eve nts , an d ea c h of his five wi ns have co me on a different model KTM - so far on a 1 25 E X C , 20 0 EXC , 250 E XC , 300 MXC , and 400 EXC , eac h of them e s se n t i a lly s tock m otor cy c les. On a good d a y h e can a ppear sup er human ; in Ke n tucky , f or exam ple, whe re he rod e a 4 00 EXC Rac ing Fo ur -Stroke for the f irs t t ime, Wa tts fell back as f ar as se venth p lace o n the whi te -flag lap, then rallied to w in the ove r all , pass ing six of the seri es' top rid ers on th e last la p . On a bad day, he ap pears to ri de just lik e the rest of us - o n ly mu ch fast er. ab le t o me was m otocross. So I had a f ai rly go od upbringing in rid in g m ot ocross, but I still k ept rid ing in th e w o o d s. So I g rew u p co mpetit io n-wi se on motocross, which was certa inly beneficial to m y offro ad ca reer, and the n wh en 1 was ol d eno ugh to get my road license I started ri di ng enduros. H ave you al ways u sed t he same techniqu es y ou use now , t he same st y le? N o, fai rly the o ppos ite . I read all the Americ an m agazines, watched all th e vi deos , and I dev el o p ed t h e Ameri can t echni qu e of brak e -sliding in ever y co rne r. I had no abil ity to pick nic e, smooth li nes and flo w aro und a co urse. I learned th e righ t way to ri de in Europe, whe n I wen t ov er to ri de in th e W o rl d Ch amp ion sh ip End u r o Se rie s. Those guys were j ust absol utely sp an k ing me there. It took me two years to learn it , and by the end my style went from one end of the scale all the way to the other. Q A Wh at are A me r icans d o in g w r on g i n t h eir rid ing? T hat 's hard to say , really ! For enduro competition in Euro pe , th ere's a certain st y le, and tha t 's th e only way to do it. It' s a littl e b it different here in Am er ic a , in like , say , t he Cross Cou n try Se ri es, bec ause it's a very different course layout. The way th e courses are l ai d out makes all the d ifference. The reason Americans aren 't any go od when the y go to Europe t o the ISDE , is bec aus e they c an 't fl ow aro und a corner , they 're all st op -st art in every turn . They p ic k the w ro ng li nes, and I am not su re that th ey hav e mu ch of a sens e of how much traction is there , wh at to do to k eep th eir spee d up . It's so me- Q A Fir st off, who are you and what are you do ing here? We ll , I'm j us t a sim ple cou ntry boy from Victoria, Austral ia , o ut to see the wor l d and tr y t o ma k e a li vi n g ra cing m otorc ycl es , and try t o ha v e a blo od y go od time doing it . Wh e n yo u fir st go t started b a c k home in Aust ralia , wha t so rt of ridin g di d you do ? I first started rid ing off -ro ad w it~ my father and my brother. My father wa s A ust rali an Na tional Enduro Ch amp ion at the ti me . Wh en I wan ted to start riding in com p etition , th e only c o mpet iti o n avail - Q A newvs Mike Lafferty (left) and Watts are teammates at KTM. They're fierce rivals but good friends.