James Booth-Elliot is one of the young guns of our sport who is putting in the hours and doing the hard yards as he tries to make his mark on the Australian motocross scene.

2011 saw the first full season out of junior ranks for the 17-year-old, who hails from the country town of Virginia in South Australia. Booth-Elliot and his father hit the road and contested the MX Nationals Under 19’s series and then stepped up to the Pro Lites division for Super X.

The MX Nationals saw a mixed bag of results, but he was able to put in some solid performances at Super X, cracking the top 10 at the Maitland round against some older, more experienced Pro Lites competitors.

“I did the Under 19’s at the MX Nationals and bummed out pretty bad in that, just got bad starts and the formats didn’t really suit bad starts,” Booth-Elliott explained.

“At Super X I raced Pro Lites and that was actually pretty good and I exceeded my expectations. I didn’t get points at two of the rounds, but still ended up 15th in the championship, so that wasn’t too bad.”

The improved Super X finishes were a welcome way to finish off a year of hard work and travelling with limited support.

“We didn’t have too much support last year, we went out and bought a Honda and it was mainly my dad putting money in,” he continued. “Flinders Motorcycles have been helping me out and doing us good deals, and Loosekid have been hooking me up with clothin.

“But yeah, [I’m] pretty much the full on privateer. My mate Jarrod has been helping out a lot too, just talking to sponsors and that, he helps heaps – he’s onto everyone!”

For 2012 Booth-Elliot will be working full time to finance his racing efforts, and plans to once again contest the domestic series as well as maybe an Indonesian racing jaunt.

“I’m working full time right now as a Footings Labourer, just trying to get the money together for a new bike for the motocross series,” he said. “I should be doing the MX Nationals this year, I’m not sure whether I’ll be racing Under 19’s or Lites yet, and I might go over to Indonesia.

“I went there at the end of last year for the last two rounds of their motocross [series] and that was pretty good. 30-minute plus two [lap] motos in that heat was pretty ridiculous.

“I just want to run the pace and battle with the guys with team backing, but I really want to just ride as good as I know I can. For Super X I definitely want to be first privateer.”

With his goals firmly set in place, be certain to keep and eye out for Booth-Elliott on the results sheets as the season progress. With determination to succeed like his, he may just put in a few surprise performances.