He’s no stranger to first place but Lithgow’s Joel Willis is now this year’s elite state downhill champion after taking out the RedAss Downhill Enduro series, the final held in Lithgow last weekend.
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Joel took the lead by 3.5 seconds, which he himself did not expect.
“I was hopeful for it though, being my home track and feeling pretty good after getting back from Canada, I was hoping to win by a fair bit,” Joel said.
Joel also took out the overall point score of the series, taking a whopping lead of 210 after the total was tallied.
That recent trip to Canada was for riding practice rather than leisure, and Joel said the tracks there offer the chance to do months worth of training in no time at all.
It definitely helped, by the look of the scoreboard.
Joel has sinced moved away to Newcastle and is now a carpenter’s apprentice, but given his boss is a former pro-surfer he said work understands how important riding still is to him.
“I’m committed to working and riding,” he said.
“[My boss] understands the passion I have for my sport and is flexible with the time I have off to compete.”
He’s already done the international circuit, and at the young age of 19 it seems he’s already achieved what many riders train half their lives for, but Joel has grand plans for a World Cup circuit.
“I want to get to a point where I think I’ve given it my best shot.”