Privateer Profile: Caleb Ward
In our latest Privateer Profile on Inside Dirt, we caught up with Caleb Ward to get his thoughts on how his 2024 has played out so far.
How has the 2024 season been for you?
The season has been pretty good for the most part considering I’ve had so much time away from racing in the last few years. I ended up third in the NZ Motocross Championship in MX2, was in the hunt for the title and got some moto wins, which was good. And then I raced the QLD titles in MX1 and was leading heading into the final moto before having an unfortunate crash, which cost me. But I still won a couple motos against some top guys so that was good. And then finally I raced the last three Australian ProMX rounds in MX1 and went fourth, eighth and 10th overall with some ups and downs, but that’s racing. I was glad to be back in the mix and show a little bit of what I can do.
Give us some insight into your privateer program and all involved that help make it happen?
Peak Air Conditioning has helped me out a heap! I coach Brad’s son Sam and he reached out and got me a bike to race and helped me get to the races. He even was my mechanic as well so I can’t thank him enough! I’ve got a few other personal sponsors, local businesses and people that chip in and help me with some costs, which I’m super grateful for. I was also able to sell my old 2 stroke and my 110 and buy another 450 after the QLD titles so I had a race and practice bike for the nationals. This gave me a little more peace of mind having a spare bike there, which was nice.
What’s the average week in the life of Caleb Ward like?
The last two months I’ve been coaching full-time as well as training myself ,which has been really good. Before that I was just working full-time building mountain bike trails and pump tracks for Contour Works. They were awesome and let me bail on work and to go race in NZ for a few months then come back and work for two months. They then allowed me to leave again to coach and do these last few races in Australia. They even sponsored me to help me get to them, which was awesome!
Thoughts on the level in ProMX?
The level in Australia is really good. Obviously Kyle Webster showed that when he raced those rounds in America. Him and Jed Beaton were riding awesome this year! And honestly so were the whole top 10 to 12 dudes in the stacked MX1 class. It was certainly hard if you got a bad start, which I found out the hard way more than once (laughs).
Goals for the rest of 2024?
The goal for the rest of 2024 is to just get something sorted for next year, keep building and actually have a pre-season and a plan in place. This year I didn’t really have anything planned and I got the opportunity to go to NZ and I wasn’t really ready. I just was fully winging it and did alright so then I was extremely keen to race here and make the last few. It’d be great to actually have some good preparation and time to get myself where I want to be on and off the bike and be prepared to race the full season in 2025.
Images: ID Media Group
