JJ Nahlous - From Motocross to the ASBK

The story begins, as many great motorsport tales do, with a five-year-old boy and his first taste of two-wheels. "My first ever ride was when I was five years old, it was out at Pacific Park on a PeeWee50," recalls JJ, now 18 and the reigning Australian Supersport champion. "I just remember the amount of fun it was."

 

What JJ couldn't have known then was that this moment would set in motion a journey that would see him rise through the ranks of Australian motorcycle racing, culminating in a championship victory that has positioned him as one of the country's most promising young talents.

The Unlikely Beginning

Interestingly, it wasn't JJ who first caught the motorcycling bug in the Nahlous household. His father Maurice's introduction to motorcycles came much later in life, as a birthday present from his wife, Kylie. "My wife booked me in to do my learner's permit, and a year later I bought my first bike," Maurice explains. "I loved it, but I wasn't very good at riding."

After a few incidents on the road, Maurice made a decision that would prove pivotal. "I thought, I need to do something about this. I've either got to stop riding or I've got to learn how to ride properly." This led him to California Superbike School at Sydney Motorsport Park, where he discovered track riding. "When I left at the end of that day, I was amazed at how much control I had over the motorbike. I just couldn't get enough of the track."

Meanwhile, young JJ was making his mark in motocross, racing from age nine to fifteen. "I raced motocross for a few years... lots of training and racing, state series, club rounds," JJ recalls. "I only stopped racing motocross because I got introduced to road bikes."

 

The Project That Changed Everything

The transition from dirt to tarmac wasn't immediate or obvious. "I didn't actually want to ride on the road. I was always a dirt bike kid," JJ admits. "But dad bought a project bike and we built it together."

That project bike was a Kawasaki Ninja 300, and the months spent rebuilding it together would prove transformative. "We stripped the whole thing down and turned it into a new bike," JJ explains. "I was always like, no, I'm never going to ride it. But when we had finally finished building it, dad asked me one more time if I wanted to ride it and I was like, yeah, I guess I'll try it. And then I was hooked straight away."

Maurice watched his son's rapid progression with amazement. "JJ and I built a little project bike together and he rode it and got hooked on it. He started riding more and I would ride at first, two of us would ride together, but he progressed at such a rate that I ended up being more focused on where he was on track and what he was doing."

Two Step Racing is Born

What started as father-son track days evolved into something more serious. "Two Step Racing was born," Maurice explains. The name held special significance, harking back to JJ's motocross days. "Two Step Racing is something dad has said ever since I started racing motocross," JJ explains. "Two steps: have fun and finish the race was always our two steps, and it's kind of stuck with us this whole time."

 

By 2024, JJ was ready to make his mark in the Australian Supersport Championship aboard his Yamaha R6. The season started perfectly with three wins from three starts, which set the scene for the whole series, with JJ maintaining the championship lead the whole way.

But maintaining that lead wasn't without its challenges. "Going into that last race, there's a lot on my mind. There was a lot of nerves and just generally thinking a lot about the championship," JJ admits. "I just remember throughout the whole race I was just counting each rider in front of me, just making sure I was in the right position."

When the checkered flag fell, JJ had done it. "There's definitely a lot of disbelief, like I didn't believe that I'd done it, but I stopped at the edge of the track and dad met me and gave me a special helmet that I have with 'Jonathan Nahlous, Supersport champion and number one' on it. It's very special to me."

The Mental Game

Success at this level requires more than just speed and skill. JJ works with a sports psychologist and has developed sophisticated mental approaches to racing. "There are two different mindsets that I'll have in a race weekend: assessment mode and attack mode," he explains.

"Assessment mode is more so on Friday, assessing the bike and everything that's going on, assessing what I have to do. Attack mode is less of that, it's more so what I'm doing and what I have to do, where do I have to brake and stuff like that."

This mental discipline extends to his preparation routine. "To prepare myself for a race a week prior, I'll stop most training. I'll only bring it down to very light training to rest my body, make sure I'm well rested for the racing because it's very fatiguing. It’s three days of hard work in a row, and it's not just fatiguing on the body, it's also fatigue on the mind."

JJ Steps Up and Maurice Steps Back

With the Supersport championship secured, JJ made the decision to step up to the premier Superbike class for 2025, riding a Yamaha YZF-R1M for the newly-formed Omega Racing Team. "There was a lot of thought behind stepping up," JJ explains. "I think staying on the 600s, there's less to learn, and with the new bike and new step, it's a new learning curve and a new challenge for me and the team."

 

This transition coincided with a significant change in team dynamics. Maurice, who had been heavily involved as crew chief, made the difficult decision to step back. "This year, dad has kind of stepped back a bit from the team. He's becoming more of the dad rather than the team owner," JJ explains.

For Maurice, this was a deliberate strategy. "I think when kids or young people and sport is involved, it always begins with mum and dad and the child. We're at the point with JJ where we're trying to replicate an environment that he would be in if he were to make a career out of this. And that doesn't involve mum or dad usually, other than supporting from the sidelines."

 

The results have been remarkable. "JJ's gone from being a child who stands behind me, looks at his feet when I'm talking to people, to somebody with the confidence to approach someone, shake their hand and have a conversation with them," Maurice’s pride is obvious, and well deserved because JJ is an impressive and humble young man with talent to burn.

 

 

The Bigger Picture

Two Step Racing has evolved from a family operation into a multi-rider team with four riders across different classes, supported by naming rights sponsor Omega Appliances. But for Maurice, success isn't just measured in lap times and championship points.

"Success to me…we have already succeeded. My son's grown to be a young man who's got confidence, he's got self-belief, he's built a group of friends around him that are really good human beings. If this sport was to finish tomorrow, tick a box, I'm happy."

JJ, meanwhile, has his sights set firmly on the future. "In five years time, the ultimate goal would be I'd want to be in the MotoGP paddock, hopefully in Moto2. Ten or fifteen years time, hopefully in the MotoGP category, hopefully winning championships and winning races, that’s the ultimate goal."

 

The Journey Continues

As JJ adapts to life in the Superbike class, the lessons learned from that first PeeWee50 ride continue to resonate. "What I love about riding on the track is the feeling of relief. There's nothing you're thinking about except for what you're doing. When you perfect a corner, it's the most satisfying thing. And of course, winning is the best feeling ever."

For Maurice, watching his son's development both on and off the track has been the greatest reward. "I'm really proud of him. I'm more proud of the young man he's become. The ability to deal with adversity and to be able to look at a situation that is ever so negative and see the positive in it."

The Nahlous story is far from over. With JJ's talent, determination, and the solid foundation built through years of family support and professional development, the next chapters promise to be just as compelling. As Maurice puts it: "Success is progress. Success is moving forward and learning from your mistakes and taking that next step and that next step and that next step. To me, that's success."

JJ Nahlous finished 6th out of a field of 38 riders in his first season of the Australian Superbike Championship for Omega Racing Team.

Follow his journey on social media @jj.nahlous20 www.instagram.com/jj.nahlous20 and JJ Nahlous Racing on Facebook.