Brock in 13th position

Cooran motocross rider Brock Winston will compete at Coolum this weekend.

Geoff Potter

The task confronting privateer riders is perhaps similar to a football side being forced to compete against an opposition that enjoys a higher salary cap.

Being denied access to the luxuries that the factory stars enjoy has not, however, stopped Cooran’s Brock Winston from holding his own in the MX Nationals pro lite division this year.

Despite missing six races at the start of the year due to a knee injury, Winston finds himself 13th in the overall standings heading into the final two rounds at Coolum this weekend.

The 22-year-old received a last-minute call-up to ride for Kawasaki at the corresponding event last year, after the team’s regular rider fell ill, and defied the lack of notice to finish seventh in the round.

“This weekend, I’ll be happy if I finish in the top 10,” Winston, who now rides a KTM, said yesterday.

“The pro lites has been the hardest class this year – there is not much between the top 15 guys and they’re all really fast.

“Last year it was pretty easy to get a top 10, but this year it has been just so much tougher.”

Winston tore knee ligaments in his left knee in round one of the series at Horsham, Victoria, in late March.

The injury has again been causing him some discomfort following a mishap when training on Tuesday, and Winston has toned down his practice regime to ensure he is at peak fitness for the weekend.

“I’ll just rest up before the weekend and, hopefully, it will be back to normal,” he said.

“Both my left and right knees need operations at the moment. My right one’s been stuffed for about five years.”

Buoyed by his performances this season, Winston plans to make the jump to the blue ribbon pro open division next year.

“Next year, I am going to step up to the open class and see how that goes for me,” he said.

“I just want to keep doing well at the Aussie titles. I’m not too fussed on anything else at the moment.”

Winston had a specially designed track built at his family’s three-hectare property, and some of the residents living nearby would be pleased to learn he will be powering his KTM around a circuit not in earshot this weekend.