Motorex KTM’s Todd Waters is thankful to have a six-week mid-season break ahead of him following a head injury that has slowed him considerably in the previous two rounds of the Monster Energy MX Nationals series.

Suffering the injury before Broadford’s round four, Waters was barely cleared to race the event and is yet to land himself on the podium overall since then.

Waters’ performance of late is a stark contrast to his domination of the MX1 class at the opening three events, but following a critical lapse in concentration at Conondale’s round five, the Queenslander is content with the points he salvaged.

“It was a tough day and I’m very thankful I’ve got a break ahead now to recover,” said Waters. “I still found myself a little sleepy in that second moto from the concentration.

“It’s good I haven’t lost too many points, but I’m a racer, so it’s tough to think that we were really charging in the championship and now we’re not, but when you have a head knock it takes a little time to get over it.”

Waters took the moto one win at Conondale, but came up short on the overall after making an error while pushing to catch the lead group in moto two.

“Today I made a little mistake right when I could see the leaders and there was an overall win on the cards,” he added. “But I went out there and gave it everything – it didn’t pay off this time but next time it will.

“I’d like to express a big thanks to my team. We’ve hit a hard spot lately and they’ve stuck by me and supported me more than ever so I owe them more than anything.”

Motorex KTM team manager Rob Twyerould was impressed with Waters and teammate Kirk Gibbs performances on the wet, muddy and fast Conondale circuit.

“It was an incredible track today, real wet and muddy and many of the riders set their best qualifying times on their first lap – the track just never got faster,” said Twyerould. “Todd was sixth fastest and missed out on Super Pole but Kirk got through and did very well to finish second.

“In the first race Todd rode around the outside and was leading by the end of the lap. He pulled a gap but [Matt] Moss caught and passed him so Todd followed for a couple of laps and Moss fell with about 10 to go. Mossy was closing fast at the end, but Todd’s last lap was an absolute screamer and he won by two seconds.

“Todd got a terrible start in moto two but worked his way up quickly passing Jake Moss, [Lawson] Bopping and [Adam] Monea up to Gibbsy, but then he fell and found himself behind them all over again.

“Todd is still not at 100% so the break will be fantastic for him. Kirk showed fantastic speed today and all the teams worked their asses off today, cleaning bikes and prepping with foam to combat the mud.”

Waters currently holds a 25-point lead in the MX1 championship standings with Matt Moss sitting second followed by CDR Yamaha’s Billy Mackenzie.