In January 1973 at age 13 David Watson found motocross via a converted road bike. It was a passion and talent that was about to be uncorked but no-one including David himself could have foreseen the success that was to follow.. “my first race was in April 1973 in Newtonards which I won, but I wasn’t expecting to ” David's 3 year schoolboy career saw him finish 3rd in 1973 2nd in 1975 and finally win in 1975 but when his competition was Laurence Spence and Stephen Russell you can imagine how competitive and fast the racing was “ I feel that was the strongest schoolboy era, I don’t know why we all came through at that time, but every weekend we pushed each other the racing was very competitive between us and I think it brought us all along”

David's initial foray into adult racing had brought with it a new riding style – stood up with his feet pegs- that blew people away at the time in Ireland, David though struggles to explain were it came from “ I don’t know how conscious I was of doing it but it just felt comfortable to me, I also didn’t have the longest legs so it was better just to keep my feet on the pegs sometimes! but the older generation did sit down a lot more.”

One of David favourite races was an Ulster Championship round in 1977, one of his initial rides in the Adults. "“there was a lot of expectation that day with fans who had followed us ( David, Laurence Spence and Stephen Russell)” in the schoolboys and the older generation of fans who supported Davy Crockard. It was on the old track at Tinkers hill we were on 500s straight from schoolboys in those days, I won the first 20 minute moto and then the final moto was the main race and it was 30 minutes something I wasn’t used too, I got a bad start but worked my way through into the lead but as the moto wore on Davy Crockard ( yes, Gordon's dad!) started to pull me in, it came down to the last lap and Davy was right behind me, there was sharp left after a downhill before the finish and I hit a kicker and nearly took out Winston Norwood at the side of the track! So Davy Crockard won to the delight of the older fans!”

At this stage in his career it became clear that to go to the next level David needed to move to England where he stayed with Bob McMinn. David admits it was hard the first few years “ winning in England was difficult, I had to take out an English license because they didn’t accept an Irish one. They took points off in a support race I won because I had an Irish License! I had to really become an Englishmen. I was caught between the two – it meant I couldn’t race in Ireland then because I had and English License!

Staying with Irelands first GP rider Robert Wilkinson while in England proved an invaluable experience “ Robert Wilkinson taught me a lot he was a mentor to everyone in Ireland he had factory Bultaco Contract, a fancy truck and everyone wanted to be like him when he came home (Ireland ) he would easily beat the top local riders of that era, he was still beating me when I first stayed with him “

David won one British adult Title but feels he could have won more “I felt I should and could have won more it would be nice to have the titles now but back then the dates clashed with some of the GPs,I was leading in 1980 for instance but I got the chance to do GPs so I had to let the British Title go”

At the Motocross Des Nations that year in Farleigh Castle, David had one of the his best and most memorable performances of his career. In front of his home crowd David rode to 5th and 2nd places leading the race and only Belgian legend André Malharbe could beat Watson! who was showing how “elementary “ the sport could be! David suggests he was slightly fortunate to get in the team as Graham Noyce and some other top British riders were injured but the team who also consisted to Geoff Mayes, Vic Allen and Pete Mathia finished a respectable 5th thanks to David's performances. When asked why he rode so well that day David can’t point to any single factor “ I had been getting better and better that season, I got a factory 500 Suzuki engine when it was confirmed I was in the team and that helped but on the day something just clicked”

At the end of that year Watson made his return to Ireland to compete in the prestigious John Donnelly Trophy but in Timed Qualifying he was slowest “ I don’t know what happened” he says! But when the races came round David showed his form and went 3-1-1 to win the overall trophy “ it was a big race to win, you dream of it when you are younger and that was one I had wanted win, they always had good foreign riders over then, I think Willie Simpson (Shaun's dad) was riding that year too, it was good to win it “

Most riders dream is to race for a factory team in GP motocross, for David though it became a reality with a factory Yamaha contract at the end of 1980. “I always hoped go professional but it was a lot harder to qualify for GPs then as they only picked the top 2 or 3 riders in each county. At the end of 1980 I had a factory Yamaha ride and I realised the amount of money that could be made whereas before I just making enough to pay the bills and put fuel in the van.”

David's best year at world championship level was 1982 where he finished 4th in the championship and en route beat 5 times world champion George Jobe to victory in the first moto of the 250cc Belgian GP! No other Irish rider achieved what Watson had at GP level until Gordon Crockard surpassed him with a 3rd in the world Championship in 2001. Watson has known Gordon since he was a child and remembers Crockstar “ coming to my house when he was really young and taking my race pants home as a souvenir!”

1987 brought a premature end to Watson's career with a badly broken leg, from there David bestowed some of the lessons and experience of his career upon the next generation of motocross stars, running a training school for 12 years including making a video entitled Watson's way with a very young Brian Steele! During that time David also started a mail order company called race spec, which is still running from strength to strength today. Watson still follows the racing scene closely and admits he is “ pleased to see Crockard coming back on form after all the injuries he has had, it nice to see him do well again”

David also remains a fitness fanatic and competes in triathlon along with accompanying his daughter who is a successful cross–country runner, in fact David was over in Belfast earlier this year at an international running event to support his daughter.

Looking back on his career David feels that despite being one the harder trainers in his era he could have done more.“I trained probably more than most back then but when you look back now it all goes by so quickly that you don’t realise how good things are until you lose it and maybe I should’ve done more training, but it’s the same today there are guys out there who train hard and those that don’t”

David Watson remains one of the leading names in not just Irish motocross but British motocross, he brought a riding style to motocross in Ireland to rival that of what James Stewart has done in America or Stefan Everts in GPs, and carried that style and Northern Ireland to success on the world stage, all the time doing it Watson's way…