Source: Supplied.

For the first time in his young Motul MX Nationals career, Nathan Crawford will hit the track sporting the MX2 championship leading red plate at this weekend’s sixth round of the 2016 series in Nowra, New South Wales.

The Husqvarna-backed rider entered the 2016 season with minimal preparation time due to injury and took a building approach to his season working his way up to the red plate position at Wanneroo’s fifth round.

“It didn’t sink in for a while until I saw it on the bike and that moment was pretty cool for me,” said Crawford. “It was a slow start to the year for me, I had only been on the bike for a month heading in to the first round so I’ve just been building. For me to walk into the five week break with the red plate felt really good.”

Despite being under the spotlight and feeling added pressure as the red plate holder, the 18-year-old is sticking to his regular routine and ensuring the updated decal colour doesn’t weigh him down.

“I guess it’s just an image kind of thing having that red background,” he said. “The pressure is there a little bit but I’m just doing the best I can to make sure it doesn’t effect my racing or my day to day program. It’s there, but usually I cope pretty well with pressure so we’ll see how we go.”

A fan of the tight, technical and unique style of track, Crawford will approach this weekend’s Nowra event with a positive outlook following a strong five-week break.

“The five-week break has been good for me; I’ve got a lot of riding in,” he added. “I know a few people are not a real fan of Nowra but I actually don’t mind the track – I like that style, real tight and technical. So I guess we will see how it’s prepped when we arrive and it should be a good weekend.”

Crawford will enter this weekend’s military-themed event with a 13-point lead over second place rider Jed Beaton of the DPH Motorsport team.