After a promising start to last season, British MXGP rider Ben Watson saw his momentum halted by an ACL injury sustained in Portugal. It was a tough blow that required extensive recovery time — including six weeks without bearing any weight — and left Watson facing an uncertain road back. Fast forward to 2025, and the Beta Factory rider has made an impressive return, consistently hovering around the top ten in a stacked MXGP field.
We caught up with Ben to reflect on his comeback journey, the challenges of developing the Beta machine almost from scratch, and what it’s like being one of the few British riders holding it down in the premier class. Watson opens up about the realities behind the scenes, why he feels his results go under the radar, and why he still believes his best is yet to come.
GateDrop: We’ll go back to last year, obviously you were having a pretty good season and then a season-ending injury, so coming into this year there’s probably a little bit of unknown because you hadn’t raced in so long, so to start the season pretty well and be pretty consistent in the top 10 and if you’re not top 10 you’re very close to it, so you must be happy with the start of your season considering you missed so much racing last year because it’s not easy to come back.
Watson: No it’s not and from an ACL obviously it’s a long time off the bike, especially in the beginning there was six weeks for me with no weight bearing, so I lost a lot of muscle in my leg and I wasn’t really thinking about the riding or when I was going to get back on a bike, it was just get myself back to fitness and even just in shape to ride a bike again. It was a strange period having a summer at home, obviously I haven’t done that for a long time.
GateDrop: In England?
Watson: Yeah, summer in England, so I haven’t done that for a long time which was on one hand quite nice but yeah came into this season a little bit unknown. When you’ve missed out on doing a lot of races it takes a couple to get back into. I took the surgery when I did because then I knew that I was going to be back on the bike in the off-season and I could have a solid winter ready for the first race, so I wasn’t on the back foot too much. Last year I had a good start to the season, I was 10th in the championship at one point when I had the injury in Portugal. It’s been a similar start again this year, always fighting around that top 10, I feel like I need to find a few things here and there to take that next step. I do feel like my riding’s better this year on the track during the races. It’s just my starts are letting me down massively, so myself and together with the team we’re all working to try and improve that. I think if we can fix that just even a little bit it will help me take the next step.
GateDrop: Just on your winter, firstly when did you get back on a bike and what did you do for winter, did you spend most of it in Italy or did you go other places in Europe?
Watson: So, I got back on the bike middle of November, more towards the end of November, then I rode all the way up to almost Christmas time. I came home for Christmas with the family, New Year and then the beginning of January we spent it in Sardinia, so had a really good training camp there. I was still in Sardinia a little bit, you know thinking about my knee and not to do anything crazy, so just getting laps in, I was riding around with a lot of arm pump and those kind of things took a little while to shake out. I didn’t have the greatest off season in Sardinia but I also didn’t have any issues and I kept plugging away and in the end I felt a lot better even within that couple of weeks. Then it was pre-season races with an Italian team, of course we did the International Italian championship and then we started in Argentina and pretty much been on the road since to be honest.
GateDrop: And just on the Beta, obviously this is your third year with them now if I’m not wrong, what’s the bike like now compared to when you first got on the bike and I’m assuming any of the changes have been done, you know you’re pretty much developing this bike, Okay, Jeremy Van Horebeek done a good job before you but that was with a different team so you guys probably had the start from scratch, so that was mainly you, how do you feel developing the bike. You know if you look at other brands, Ducati for example they’ve got Lupino and Cairoli to do that job, whereas you were quite young at the time but how do you find the developing side and how different is the bike now compared to day one?
Watson: It’s good in some ways and it’s difficult in other ways because as a rider you know you want a good package that you have confidence and trust in and then you just stick with that. You can fine-tune yourself a little bit to find the steps and also the bike with suspension, gearing and bits and bobs like that to each different race. I’ve enjoyed it because I’m very direct with the factory so if I have something that I need or feel like we can change I speak directly with them, and you know it’s quite easy to communicate but obviously it takes time.
If you want something changing it needs testing, I can’t just make a big change on the bike and then let’s go into the world championship with it because you need to do durability testing and some things like that take actually probably longer than what people can imagine. The winter is always a good time to try and say what we want and but sometimes it’s not even going to be ready before the middle of the season so that’s the difficult part of it. I mean everyone in the paddock will want something changing on the bike and making it improve but I think Beta have made really really good steps since the beginning of 2023 when I joined the team. Now it’s my third year so I’m always improving and I do believe like the only direction we can go is up and the guys are all working really hard behind the scenes. Many people have seen Zach Osborne has been hired as brand ambassador and to help develop the bike so I think he can also bring a lot of experience. He’s another top rider to get on the bike and feel some things that maybe immediately says this or that needs to be changed. I think it’s good to have people like that and you see with Ducati they took Tony for this reason.
GateDrop: You mentioned Zach Osborne there, I was actually quite surprised by the press release. I didn’t see that coming, did you know that was going to be happening and have you have you spoken to Zach at all – is that something that you’ll maybe do, to reach out to him?
Watson: I spoke to him and he’s always been really good with me actually. He’s always saying hey good job or good lines of stories, little things like that, you know. He seems like a really cool guy and I knew a couple of weeks ago but not before that. I don’t know how long it’s been a deal for, but I did hear a couple of weeks ago so also new for me. but I was really happy when that was done.
GateDrop: Do you think we’ll be seeing him at some GP’s then or do you not know that yet?
Watson: Yeah, I think so.
GateDrop: Okay, that is cool, so you’ll be looking to tap into his experience then whenever you can?
Watson: Yeah, I’m hoping that he can come over because our bike compared to the USA guys is a little bit different. We have different fuel regulations and also with the noise control so there’s a few things that allows their bike to be a bit different to ours. Hopefully he can come over, ride my bike and do some riding with us and see what he thinks.
GateDrop: I mean when you look in the GP paddock, it’s basically only you guys and your team with the Beta, you don’t get that many privateers going out and getting a Beta… I don’t know why, do you feel like maybe the job you’re doing is it’s going under the radar a little bit because you’re doing quite well, you know to be getting top 10/top 15 in MXGP?
Watson: A little bit under the radar but on the other hand the bike’s not that easily available at the moment. I’m thinking last year was the first year the bike was available for the public but they made a very limited number. I think this year they’re going to open the number up again. I think they wanted to see how it is going. It’s not a bike that you will see many people on the training tracks with. Only in Italy a little bit more but it’s quite surprising because if you go an Enduro event, Beta is the biggest thing and I genuinely believe they have the best bike there. I think they’ve got their goals set high and they’re just taking it steady for the moment. They’re working hard behind the scenes also in the factory if you see the new production line they’ve got in the works now for the motorbike it’s going to be good.
GateDrop: There is talk about a 250cc MX2 motocross bike coming, have you heard anything about that? I have heard whispers of a GP team but you probably can’t tell me much about that…
Watson: I’ve heard and I’ve seen some stuff but yeah we’ll have to wait and see. Again it’s a little bit like us, everything’s being developed and it takes time so I don’t think there’s really a set date on when something’s going to be coming out or when they’re going to be on the start line.
GateDrop: Is that something you’d like to get involved in like to help test the 250cc if that’s a route they’re going to go down?
Watson: Not really at the moment because I’m the main rider who’s racing in the world championship for them. There’s only two of us with myself and Tom (Koch) so I’m focused on my job at the moment. I still have a lot of work and things that I want to work on with the 450cc so I’m still focused on that. Of course in my spare time or the off season it’s always nice to jump on a 250cc.
GateDrop: You live in Italy now and I was actually speaking to your brother Nathan at Arco and he lives near Bergamo. Do you live near him? It must be nice to have him in Italy with you and how do you find living in Italy now is it like home?
Watson: No, honestly I don’t like it there. It’s not what people think if you imagine Italy like I’m going on to Italy on holiday when you go to a specific place and a nice area. You know, there’s some amazing places in Italy and you’ve got the real amazing coastlines, you’ve got the weather which is obviously 10 times better than what we have especially in the summer. You can ski there and it is an amazing country but on the other hand it seems like, I don’t know, but it’s like hundreds of years behind us where I’m living compared to what I’m used to at home. Things like that are just not the same and there’s small bits and bobs but it’s nice in one way but it definitely doesn’t feel like home.
GateDrop: When it comes to Brits and MXGP you’ve only really got yourself and Adam as well as Josh and John. Without you guys there’d be no Brits in MXGP and that wouldn’t be great, are you proud of what you’re doing and especially on the Beta, you must be!
Watson: Yeah, I am. I’ve got my head down just for myself to be honest because I’ve got a great family and a very small group of supportive people who are coming here to the races and helping me out. You see a few fans that are the diehards that have been there when I’ve been at my worst, you know. I feel like because I don’t race in the UK anymore I’m a little bit under the radar for a lot of the British fans and I think sometimes a lot of people underestimate the pace of MXGP. They only see my result of 12th and they’re like it’s not good enough. Especially because at one point I was winning GP’s so a lot of people also expect more from me and although I know I can do better I still feel like I’m doing a good job at the moment, and I’m not done. I still feel like I’ve got something to give.
GateDrop: Goals for now and the rest of the season? Is there something you’d like to achieve and like you touched on earlier I think you’ve got pace but just the starts have been letting you down… Is that something you’re trying to work on and improve out of the gate or maybe that’s your problem, what do you think?
Watson: I have to improve my timed practice a lot because one session leads on to the next and my timed practice is bad which is giving me a bad gate pick for the qualifying race. If I’m getting a bad start in the qualifying race it’s knocked my position down for the races on the Sunday. I have to work there a lot and it’s always been a little problem of mine but especially now that the pace is so high that you actually have to take some risks to get a good lap inside the top 10. Goals wise I mean I keep saying top 10 but I feel like when I get in the top 10 in the GPs, I’ve done a good job and when I look at the names around me there’s more than 10, I don’t know how many GP winners or world champions there is at the moment… but it’s a crazy lineup. I just need to stay consistent keep plugging away and remember that it is a long season.
GateDrop: You mentioned at the Motocross des Nations when you were a guest on the Pulp MX show that I think you had plans to do an AMA national or two this year, is that still in the plans?
Watson: It was, and it was all agreed from Beta, the team and everything. Then the MXGP calendar changed when Indonesia got cancelled and Finland was put on a date where I wanted to go and ride an AMA. That threw a spanner in the works so nothing has been confirmed again yet. I’d love to do one race because for me, we can just take my suspension and use the bike out there so it’s quite easy that way. It’s more like just getting myself there and doing it because it’s a goal of every rider to go and do an AMA National. I feel like it’s almost a different sport out there compared to here and this track here in Lugo in Spain is really nice. I feel like in America they’re all like this, they’re nice, fast, wide open with good jumps. It’s not to go there and get a specific result but I just think it’ll be a really fun and cool experience.
GateDrop: Just on the future, you are kind of one of the more experienced guys in MXGP now, how many years do you see yourself racing motocross and there had been whispers before the start of this year maybe you could be doing enduro in the future but firstly hopefully we’ll see in this paddock for a few more years yet…
Watson: I’m 27 so I’ve still got a lot of time. I mean you see Glenn (Coldenhoff) now who is 34 so I definitely feel like physically I’m in better shape than ever right now. I feel like from 2022 I’ve slowly gone up so if I can just keep going in this direction I’ll be happy. Enduro is definitely not on the cards at the moment and that was a strange rumour that went around. Obviously to my Brother is racing a Beta in world enduro but it was just a strange rumour but that was never on the cards. I signed an extension with the team, so the contract was done anyway and I’ll still be in MXGP for a few more years.
GateDrop: Good to hear and is that a one-year deal you signed with Beta or is there an option next year as well?
Watson: I’m on a deal for next year as well.
