A return to the Penrite Hattah Desert Race beckons this weekend for ProMX front-runner Todd Waters, the Raceline Husqvarna Berry Sweet Racing rider eager for the 2023 edition in what will mark his anticipated return to off-road competition.

Waters, 32, finished an impressive P2 at Hattah on debut last year and, despite opting to largely focus on motocross this season after taking over Husqvarna’s official domestic program, the prestigious Victorian desert event was one he had marked on his calendar as a must riding an FE 501.

“Hattah is the coolest race I have ever done – I absolutely loved it,” Waters told MotoOnline. “I haven’t been on an off-road bike all year, but I’m going to go down there and I’ll be on the 501. Along the fence lines you are sitting on 180km/h and it’s sick, just so different and it excites me. I get amped on the unknown and throwing myself in the deep-end.

“The race is four hours long, so nutrition in important – it’s not only fuelling your bike up when you’ve got pit stops, but you’ve got to try to work out the best way to keep your body fuelled. It’s a big thing in this race, just to make sure you are hydrated and you also taking in some calories, because the burn rate is massive. The average heart rate is 170 for four hours.

“I went last year and I completely underestimated it. They said ‘we’ve got a show and shine, come to that, it’s where you sign on’. I took a little quick shade with our bike, and you’ve got to remember there’s like 500-600 people entered, so they bring a plus-one, plus twos, plus threes, and plus some spectators, so you have got a couple of thousand people walking around. It’s really cool.”

Waters travelled straight to the Hattah Desert Race following round six of the Penrite ProMX Championship in Toowoomba last weekend, where he finished third in the opening moto before suffering a DNF in race two. He currently sits eighth in the national MX1 standings.