The 2013 season marks the return of the Motorex KTM team, an impressive in-house factory effort headed up by KTM Australia’s general manger Jeff Leisk.

KTM’s factory outfit had been absent from the Australian racing scene for quite some time, but Leisk along with his talented crew including team manager Rob Tywerould, have put together an impressive program for this season.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with Leisk recently to chat about the return of the revamped factory outfit, how the team works and what it’s like to work with current MX1 Monster Energy MX Nationals series leader Todd Waters.

Motorex KTM is back thanks to KTM Australia’s official in-house program. It’s obviously been a lot of work and you’d sent the guys to New Zealand during the pre-season as well. It must be pretty exciting to be back at the MX Nationals.

Yeah, really exciting and very pumped up. I guess it’s a bit like getting the band back together in terms of our personnel with Rob Tywerould and Danny Apro on board. We’ve got a great team of guys together also with Kyle Blunden and Ryan Deckert – the mechanics that came across from JDR and Johnny Distefano’s back involved.

So in terms of our pool of experience that we’ve got there, it’s really strong and really deep. We’re super excited to be back ourselves, in the respect to that KTM has come a long way I think in Motocross, and Supercross in America. We’re controlling our own destiny, we’re doing it how we want to do it.

While KTM is based in WA and the team’s based close to Sydney, you guys are still very hands on with the team at this stage it seems?

I guess it is, but with that being said, Rob and I have worked together a long time and he’s been with our organization for well over 10 years. To be honest, although I’m a soundboard for Rob and I’m involved in setting the budgets and different things, it’s really Rob’s team.

He runs it, he chooses the people, he chooses the riders and he’s the key decision maker in the whole thing. But I trust him implicitly, he loves racing, it’s in his blood and in his bones. So it feels great to see him at the helm there and doing his stuff.

To have Todd Waters who’s ridden for you guys as a junior and early in his career – he’s obviously risen to be one of the top guys in Australian Motocross. For you to work with him and see him really start to reach his potential on a domestic level, that must be also a great factor so far?

The whole thing about anything you do, it’s a culture. I know that all the guys on the team whether it’s Rob or Danny or the mechanics, everyone works super hard and are really dedicated – Todd just fits that culture perfectly.

He’s such a hard worker, so dedicated and you can tell he’s enjoying it when he’s doing it. That’s the pleasing thing, he’s always got a spring in his step, he’s always positive and it’s just an absolute pleasure to have a guy that puts so much into it – that’s a dream and we love it.

Thank you Jeff, great to have you guys back here at the races.

Thanks, Alex. It’s nice to be here.