Source: Supplied.

Top-level Australian Todd Waters has committed to the 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross championship, set to compete in the American series as part of a privateer Honda operation.

Waters, 26, has chosen to reignite his international career after spending the 2014 and 2015 seasons in MXGP, claiming ninth in the championship prior to returning home last season.

While the specifics of his American arrangement are still in the process of being finalised, it’s anticipated Waters will travel to the US in April ahead of Hangtown’s opening round on 19 May. Prior to that he plans on preparing in New Zealand, contesting the Woodville GP and their national championship opener.

“America is definitely the direction that I want to go in and that’s my main focus for 2018,” Waters confirmed with MotoOnline.com.au. “I want to be in the States racing AMA, in my own deal and we have some good partners involved. The plan is to go over there and give it a crack – I committed halfway through the season that we were going over and there’s no backing out.

“I’ll be with the same manufacturer, with Honda, doing the outdoors over there and then coming back for supercross here. What I’m looking to do in New Zealand is Woodville and the first round, head over there with Coops [Cody Cooper] to get ready because their tracks are closer to America.”

Waters will also undergo scheduled knee surgery now that the Australian Supercross Championship is complete, fixing a broken knee cap that he rode through in the latter stages of the MX Nationals, plus he’ll have corrective surgery to remove screws from his tibia.

“Before the last two rounds of motocross I broke my knee cap – like a quarter of it off,” he explained. “After round one of supercross I had it X-rayed and it hasn’t mended. They’re going to take the lump out, so while they’re doing that I’m going to get some screws taken out of my tibia as well. Once that’s fixed, we should be fit and ready.”

This year was a mixed one for Waters by his standards as part of the factory Crankt Protein Honda Racing team, which closed at the conclusion of supercross at Jimboomba last weekend. He was fourth in the final MX Nationals standings and eighth in supercross aboard the latest CRF450R.