Matt Walters delivered Kawasaki its first championship in 12 years in the Superstcok 600 category.

Rider:
Matt Walters

Date of Birth:
24 October 1992

Bike:
Kawasaki ZX-6R and Kawasaki ZX-10R

Team Sponsors:
Kawasaki Connection Racing/ Rover Coaches

Career Highlights:

• 2010 Australian Superstock 600 Champion

The 2010 Australian Superstock 600 Championship went down to the wire last weekend at Queensland Raceway, but in the end it was 17-year-old Kawasaki rider Matt Walters who emerged with the number one plate.

Walters has enjoyed an exceptional season this year in the leading development class of ASBK racing, clinching the crown ahead of fellow teenager and arch-rival Aaron Morris to take Kawasaki’s first national road race title in 12 years.

“It’s what we pushed for all year, really,” Walters said. “I also rode the ZX-10 in the Superstock 100 class, but our main focus at the end of the day was to win the championship on the 600 and we were able to do that.”

Walters has proven the leading Kawasaki rider in the ASBK in a season that saw the Japanese giant pull out of Australian road racing in a factory involvement, however their support behind Walters has paid off with the title win.

“The Kawasaki proved itself last year with the Big Piston Forks and so on, but the Yamaha had obviously won it for the last few years. It was our plan to stop the Yamaha juggernaut and that’s what we really did,” Waters explaibned.

“Kawasaki have supported us for the last two years on the 600 and also this year on the 1000, which has been just an awesome help, and they’ve been really good to us along the way. They believed in me so it was good to come through with the championship for them.”

As a rider who cut his teeth in the Junior ranks on a 150cc Honda before stepping up to the 125cc Grand Prix category in 2008, Walters has impressed since switching to Superstock racing in 2009.

A fifth place in the title chase last season as a rookie was a solid result, before he elected to ride both the 600 and 1000 in the Superstock classes for the 2010 season.

“It was tough because I had to do a lot of training to pick the fitness up and it was all very new to me,” he continued. “It was only my second year on the 600, but I thought we may as well do double-duty and it turned out good actually.

“I was second in to 1000 championship until I had a fall on Friday in Queensland and couldn’t race, but we didn’t expect to get on the podium at Darwin or anywhere else during the season.”

The end result was still sixth in the series despite missing the final six races of the season, and he has now set his sights on the Supersport category for the MotoGP round at Phillip Island before shooting for the 1000cc Superstock title in 2011 on the all-new ZX-10R.

“Hopefully we’ll be at the MotoGP round in Supersport, but the new ZX-10R is on the cards for next year more than likely,” Walters concluded.

With a championship now under his belt at a national level in Australian road racing, the future looks bright for Walters, perhaps set to be the next big thing for Team Green in the ASBK.

Walters is one to keep an eye on in Australian road racing.