Todd Waters has confirmed he won’t line-up at next month’s prestigious Monster Energy AUS-X Open in Sydney, rather focusing on his plans for the 2019 season.

Waters, who initially intended on racing the AMA Pro Motocross series in America before returning home to race the Australian Supercross Championship with Penrite Honda Racing, scored an opportunity at Honda HRC in the MXGP World Championship that ultimately prevented him from contesting the domestic season.

Completing his campaign with a world championship ranking of 24th, Waters was hopeful of making appearances at the Adelaide and Sydney stops of supercross, although it was decided a lack of preparation would result in no gain for the Gold Coast-based athlete.

“I took the opportunity in Europe and raced the world championship, which clashed with the Australian Supercross Championship,” Waters explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “It meant I wasn’t able to return and ride for Yarrive [Konsky].

“We made a plan to race the last two supercross rounds, but a couple of weeks we ago we sat down, and Yarrive thought there was gain for me in doing the last two rounds given the preparation I’ve had – I’d be going up against guys who have raced the full supercross season and also some top American guys. So we decided to sit it out and focus on next year’s motocross campaign.”

The popular Queenslander has now shifted attention to 2019, where he’s planning to undertake his initial goal of this year by racing in a privately funded American motocross campaign against the country’s and the world’s best riders.

“Pretty much what Cody Cooper did this year is what I’ll be doing – I was supposed to join him this year,” he continued. “It’s something I want to do – I just love the atmosphere and feeling I get from [racing internationally]. There are new experiences I want to experience, and I want to do it while I can.

“It’s definitely not a financial decision, it’s more of a lifestyle and goal orientated thing for me – I want to better myself and my riding, and there’s no better way to do it than racing the best in the world.”

Waters’ last appearance on the domestic national calendar was 12 months ago at last year’s AUS-X Open, which proved to be a challenging weekend for then injury-riddled rider.