Husqvarna-mounted privateer Zac Watson has continued his rapid march up the MX1 ranks this year, finishing his third premier class campaign of the 2024 Penrite Australian ProMX Championship in a solid eighth position overall.

The 20-year-old Rising Motorsports rider is originally from Townsville, but made the move to Woodford – between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast – three years ago to further his racing prospects with Ford Dale’s FD Elite training program.

It was a big jump for the then teenager, originally living in a caravan on a friend’s property, before moving into more permanent accommodation in South-East Queensland.

“It was a now-or-never move, really,” he recalls. “Staying at home, I didn’t have many tracks or people to ride with, and I wanted to pursue a racing career. On our way home from Wonthaggi I did a day training with Ford, and he said that if I wanted to commit to moving down, he’d be happy to take me on full-time. He always says that if we put in 150 percent, he’ll match us, and he’s lived up to his word.”

The improvements over the past few years have been evident. After winning a total of four junior and flat-track national titles, Zac opted to skip the MX3 class and did a year racing MX2 as a 16-year-old before jumping up to the premier MX1 class.

“I found I’m a lot more suited to the 450. With my riding style, I struggled with the intensity needed to ride the 250 well,” he says. “I tend to ride up a gear and use more bottom-end power, so the 450 has been a great option for me.”

After racing a Honda CRF450R for his first two years, Watson finished 13th in his first full MX1 season in 2022, then improved to 10th overall last year. He jumped over to the Husqvarna FC 450 for 2024 with the Rising Motorsports team and has enjoyed his best-ever year.

Still juggling a part-time job working for a crane company while training and racing the national circuit, Zac entered this season with the goal of bettering his previous performances, despite lining up in one of the most stacked MX1 fields in years.

Consistent 11-10 scorecards at both Wonthaggi and Horsham had him sitting inside the top 10 early in the season, and with the exception of a crash at Gillman, he was able to steadily improve as the year went on. His best result came at MX Farm when he finished an impressive fifth overall – a result he credits with having spent countless hours at the track and his consistent style.

“I’ve always been quite consistent and I’m known for staying within my limits and not pushing too hard,” Zac explains. “But I’ve spent a lot of time chasing Kirk Gibbs and Luke Clout around the MX Farm track and knew that it was one track I had a good chance of doing well at.”

Watson found himself in P4 early in the opening moto, but was able to quickly jump up to second when Gibbs (GasGas Racing Team) and Maximus Purvis (WBR Bulk Nutrients Yamaha) both came unstuck on the heavily watered track.

After holding down the runner-up spot for most of the moto, arm-pump set in late and he dropped back to seventh. However, he put in another solid performance in the second moto and came home in sixth to finish the day fifth overall.

“It felt awesome and I didn’t feel out of place being up near the front of the field,” he add. “It was cool to show what I can do without making any errors on a track that caught a few of the boys out.”

An 8-9 scorecard at QMP’s final round, on a track he didn’t feel comfortable on, solidified his career-best eighth overall in the 2024 championship standings.

However, the highlight of his year was having the opportunity to race the Hangtown round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. With the help of his boss at AMAC Cranes, Watson hired a bike from MX Dreams in California, brought over his suspension, pipe and ECU, and lined up against some of the world’s best 450MX racers.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous in my life,” he laughs. “I’ve grown up watching the AMA, The Great Outdoors and the Moto films, so the whole weekend was pretty surreal.”

Zac qualified for the main motos and finished 34-30 for 32nd overall, and even though he believes he didn’t ride as well as could have, he’s still stoked on the experience : “It was such a cool experience and I honestly had no expectations, but it’s made me more keen to go back and hopefully race a couple more rounds next year.”

In preparing for his first full Australian Supercross Championship, having finished P7 at the Wagga Wagga round in 2022, he’s eyeing a similar result in the SX1 series, before looking forward to another great year of ProMX racing in 2025.

As for future hopes, Zac has dreams of heading overseas once he’s got more experience and good results under his belt domestically.

“I think it’s every Aussie kid’s dream to race in the States, but I want to build up my pace and results here before I think about racing overseas,” he comments. “It’s something I’d definitely love to do in the future and that’s the ultimate goal I’m aiming for.”