Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
With the announced early retirement this past week by Austin Watling, it definitely sent shockwaves through our industry. How could a rider, so young, and with so much talent decide to call it quits on a promising racing career? Well, after speaking with him this week and hearing the reason’s behind his courageous decision, everything began to make perfect sense. Racing at any level is an arduous task on the best of days. However, racing at the professional level in today’s sport is tougher than it’s ever been before. The future, for even the most talented of racer is as blurry as it’s ever been. The bikes are more powerful, the speeds are higher and the level of difficulty with the tracks is tougher than even a decade ago. All with a paycheck that appears as elusive as ever.
For Austin, his inner desire to compete at the highest level is simply not there at the moment. Will it be there again in a few months, or a year from now? Maybe. He doesn’t know and right now he’s not too concerned with it. All Austin knows is that right now he wants to take his talents and focus his energy elsewhere. Never one to shy away from work or the pursuit of happiness, he feels like right now is the perfect time to head in a different direction. In honour of Austin’s racing accomplishments, as well as the bright future he has ahead of him, here is a feature story called ‘The Three Amigo’s” that we ran in last month’s MXP Magazine. It was written by Mike McGill and the photos are by James Lissimore.
