Kemea Yamahaā€™s Ben Watson missed the podium in Agueda by a 10th of a second. After chasing down Thomas Olsen in race two for second place, Watson dived inside on the last corner, but Olsen railed the outside and pipped Watson by 0.1 seconds. But a podium finish was just around the corner.

We wanted to dig into what’s making the difference. The young Brit talks new team, new set-up and the season so far.

Dirt Bike Rider: Ben, new team this year with Kemea Yamaha and it looks like itā€™s working well.

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Ben Watson: Yeah, Iā€™ve had a really good start to the season, I didnā€™t actually expect so much from myself so early, itā€™s a really long season and Iā€™ve go to stay consistent. I had a really good first round in Argentina, but we made a lot of changes over the winter, moving to Belgium, and starting with a new team and a new bike, a full-time trainer both on and off the bike. Itā€™s been a completely new start.

DBR: Are those changes to your structure and support what you needed at this stage of your career to move to the next level results wise?

BW: Yeah definitely. Iā€™ve got more support, for example, last year I was doing all my training myself, doing a lot in the week by myself with the bike. I had a full-time mechanic, but it was difficult to work together during the week for practising, so I found myself doing a lot of it by myself, just going riding with my brother where he goes and trying to find a lift here and there. Now I have my own team van and full time-practice mechanic, so it makes training in the week easier. I live five minutes from the workshop and ten minutes from the trainer, so everything is nearby. Itā€™s much easier to do all my training and riding properly.

DBR: Do the team plan all your training and testing.

BW: Jacky Vimond [1986 250 world champion] is the full-time trainer and I discuss where we think will be good, and all the training is down to him. He sets a plan and says itā€™s this, this, this. If we feel really tired or feel we could do more we can change it, it goes on how we feel. everythingā€™s been going great so far doing what he says, for me itā€™s working, and I find it a lot more easy to go home and relax in the evening without having to plan where Iā€™m going riding or what training Iā€™m doing. Itā€™s easy *smiling*.

DBR: In Trentino you didnā€™t get good starts, but you passed more riders in the first race than you probably did all last year. The result didnā€™t show how well you rode there, you seemed a lot more aggressive with passing this year, is that something youā€™ve worked on?

BW: Yeah, my results werenā€™t what I wanted but I was happy with the riding which is most important. I went there not looking forward to it because I havenā€™t done well there. It shows what Iā€™ve been doing over the winter is working, I really surprised myself. I had terrible starts and made it hard work for myself with so many riders to pass each race.

DBR: It was an inconsistent race for a lot of riders, Henry Jacobi got on the podium with a 2-10 which is unusual, and you still managed to move up to fourth in the championship.

BW: It wasnā€™t a disaster, I moved up in the championship but its frustrating that a 2-10 gets him on the podium when I got a 4-4 in Argentina with 36 points and got fourth, and it was maybe 3 or 4 points more than what got you on the podium in Italy.

DBR: Kemea Yamaha is a factory-supported team and your bike looks pretty trick. Is it a lot different from what youā€™ve raced before?

BW: Yeah, itā€™s completely different to what Iā€™ve ever had. Last year my bike was good, but it was no different to what anyone could buy. This year Iā€™ve got some stuff that money canā€™t buy which is obviously nice for myself and nice to know Iā€™ve earned that. Its good for your confidence getting on the bike and knowing that the bike is good enough to get you to the top. Weā€™re still working on a few things but Iā€™m really enjoying it.