Jack Davis: Tamworth BMX star returns to Tamworth after breakthrough overseas stint

The 19-year-old, who returned to Tamworth on Wednesday after some six months competing overseas, said it was the happiest he had ever felt.

Riding in North America and Europe, Davis debuted in the elite class.

He is still working towards full professional status, a goal he has pursued since age seven, but he sampled his childhood dream while enjoying and enduring his longest time on the road.

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"Towards the end of my trip away, I can't recall enjoying life any more than I was," he said. "Like, that was a taste of what it would be like to race professionally."

"I was literally just training and racing," he also said, adding: "What I've been doing, I just love it and I've just been super happy."

Back home and back to a homespun realty he cherishes, Davis is currently in self-isolation. When that three-day period finishes, he will do "a bit of work to save up money" in preparation for next year.

In 2022, he will fulfil another long-held goal by being based in the US. He will live in Florida, a mecca for BMX racing.

The teen sensation believes the move will facilitate a form spike as he eyes becoming a full-time professional by building on a promising 2021 season, in which he believes he "probably" performed the best among the new crop of elite-class riders.

This year Davis competed at his sixth world championships, but his first in the elite men's category. He finished 44th. However, just making the Australian team, given only two elite men were selected, was a major achievement, he said.

In the USA Pro Series, his best results were at the Rockford and Nashville rounds, where he finished third and fifth respectively. He also placed fourth at the French Cup and fifth at the 3 Nations Cup in Germany.

While reacquainting himself with sustained stillness in isolation, Davis thanked his parents, Paul and Katrina, for financially backing him and for instilling in him a fierce work ethic.

"Just work hard at something," he said of his most important life lesson. "And that was something that Mum and Dad instilled in me from quite a young age.

"If you want to do something, don't do it half-arsed - just do it properly and commit 100 per cent to it and work hard for it."

At the Tamworth Regional Council awards last week, Davis was rewarded for that mentality when named sportsperson of the year for the second time. He was also named senior sportsperson of the year and was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame.

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