IF all goes to plan, 22-year-old motorcycle racer Wil Ruprecht will return to his Mitchells Island home in November as the world under 23 endurance champion.
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Ruprecht is currently based in Italy, planning and training his assault on the world title to be held over the last two weekends in September. He's also contesting the Italian Enduro Championship where he sits in sixth place, having missed the first two rounds as he was in Australia because of the pandemic.
However, he scored two memorable wins in the fourth and fifth rounds earlier this month and has roared back into contention. Two rounds are held on the same weekend.
Ruprecht's twin successes were against a stellar field that included EnduroGP world champion Steve Holcombe.
"I have 40 points. The leader is on 63,'' Ruprecht explained.
"There are four rounds left so that's 80 points. It seems like a long shot that I can win the Italian championship, but I'll give it my best shot.
"Going into the third and fourth rounds I was in last place. I missed the first weekend of racing by two weeks due to (COVID-19) restrictions leaving Australia. After my second application I was successful and boarded a plane ASAP. But by missing the first two rounds I gave away a possible 40 points - each round is worth 20 points.''
The Italian event was to start in April. However, this was delayed as the country was shutdown due to the pandemic. Italy as one of the hardest hit European countries by COVID-19, so Ruprecth was in no mood to hang around.
"I was told the earliest it would resume would be in July. So I hightailed it back home to Taree,'' Ruprecht explained.
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This is Ruprecht's second season racing fulltime in Europe.
"In a normal year I spend between five and nine months in Europe,'' he said.
"There's a lot of training to be done while in Europe so I try to stay as busy as possible to forget how good home is. I love my time back home and enjoy getting out and exploring what the Manning Valley has to offer.''
Ruprecht has been riding bikes for as long as he can remember.
"I started riding at the age of three in the paddock after seeing some racing on TV,'' he said.
"I convinced my parents to let me got to the Old Bar Roadside Circuit when I was six. I was never forced into any of it, it was all driven by my passion for bikes and desire to progress. That's now as strong as it's ever been.''
While winning the Italian title would be good, Ruprecht's ultimate goal is the world under 23 championship. He is confident that's a realistic goal.
