Queenslander Brenden Harrison has been in the United States since the Toowoomba round of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals, homing his skills and looking to battle for race wins in the second half of the season.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with the popular 21-year-old at JDR Motorsports’ U.S. workshop to see how his time’s going over there and also to find out how things are coming along in general ahead of Coonabarabran’s sixth round this weekend.

Queenslander Brenden Harrison, pictured during the MX Nationals, has been in the U.S. with the JDR Motorsports KTM team. Image: Alex Gobert.

You’ve been in America for a few weeks now, so how are you finding that so far?

Yeah, I mean the tracks are sick and every time you go somewhere there’s a fast person, so that’s really good. Living hasn’t been too bad, so like I said, the tracks are just so good and you can always ride on the edge and get good, quality riding in compared to at home.

I’ve probably ridden nearly double compared to what I would at home, just backing off my training a little bit, so it’s been awesome.

I guess you get to see the JDR infrastructure over here, so as a young Aussie visiting the team’s U.S. operation does it open your eyes and make you realize that if you do well at home, America isn’t out of reach?

It definitely makes it easier. Jay Rynenberg’s such a good guy letting me stay with him over here and also spending a lot of time with the American team.

They’ve been really great to me as well, so like you said, it’s a good feeling to know that if you put in the hard yards then there’s always that next step to go and they make it quite easy for you as a rider.

That’s awesome and gives us a lot of hope for the future.

I remember you went to the world championship a few years ago, so do you think America would be a lot easier to adjust to?

I think so. I went to the world championship and lived in France, had a contract there, but I ended up breaking my wrist and that sort of stuffed everything. America is good though because I like Supercross, but it’s really intense and I think that you really have to be ready to come here.

You can’t make the step halfway, you really have to be ready to come. You need to be mentally strong, physically strong, and also have a good team behind you. It’s good just to test the waters and get a feeling for what it takes.

Harrison is determined to start winning races in the second half of the MX Nationals this season. Image: Nick Brain.

Who have you been riding with in California so far?

Well at the moment I’ve ridden with Tye [Simmonds] a little bit, which has been quite good. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Josh Strang, who’s a good mate of mine back home, and that’s been really good too. I’m supposed to be going riding with Metty but haven’t had much time yet.

But everywhere you go there’s always somebody really fast and the tracks are always pretty much perfect. It doesn’t really matter who you go to the track with!

In Australia you’ve been battling for top three in the series and have had a few podiums, so do you think this will help you out come Coonabarabran?

For sure, 100 percent. I think that I’ve just been riding for points since the start of the series with the injury that I went through, so I just wanted to stay injury free. I’ve been trying to get my leg right, which I feel like it’s going right now.

To me it seems like something’s clicked and I’m back to normal on the bike, so I’ll be going home and trying to get some race wins under my belt. I’m not looking for podiums anymore – I want to start winning.

As far as your career goes, you are a former Under 19s champion, but have also endured some bad luck since turning pro. Do you feel like you’ve finally found your home in a sense at KTM with the JDR team?

Yeah, I do. The last few years are ones that I just want to forget. I don’t even… to me it’s pretty much just been a waste of time. I feel like I’ve found my feet again here, feel really at home and it’s just like a big family. I really can’t thank the team enough.