There is only one man in the European motocross championship’s EMX125 class that Josiah Natzke wants to beat on Sunday.
Heading into the final round of the championships at Assen, Natzke trails KTM Factory Juniors team-mate Jorge Prado Garcia by one point in the overall standings.
Edge Prado over two races in the Netherlands and Natzke will leave Europe in 10 days time as a European champion.
“I’ve just been doing what I’ve been doing all along,” Natzke said of his preparation over the past couple of weeks, “working hard and more and more sand riding.
“I’m in my final week and the last couple weeks have really been trying to squeeze everything out of my lemon to get the best result I can.
“I only have one point to make up to be in the lead so I think I can do it. It would certainly be cool and it would be a huge accomplishment but I’m trying not to think about it too much and just give my best and whatever will happen will happen.”
Natzke’s biggest work on in Europe has been his sand riding, a surface he never encounters in races in New Zealand.
Over the past two months he has almost entirely trained on deep sand based tracks to get up to speed with the European riders used to that type of terrain.
On hard pack tracks Natzke looks the fastest junior out.
Assen will be a sandy track, although with sections having an asphalt base he believes he will get good speed on the track.
“It’s a purpose built track but I don’t think it will be too sandy because most of the track is built on asphalt,” Natzke said.
“It will make it a level playing field because no one has ridden the track before.”
It has been an up and down season for Natzke this year, with the highlight being his 1-1 effort at the MXGP of France during a stretch in which he won five of eight motos over four rounds.
Finishing with a flourish would be the ideal way to end his first full season in Europe with a major team.
“I’ve made a few mistake and have had some bad races but that is making me a better rider,” Natzke said.
“It’s made the series tougher and I would’ve liked to be in the lead now, but I’m not and it’ll make it so much more sweeter.”
