Hi guys, I’m back for the second installment of Kade’s Korner. I’ve now got the first two rounds of the Monster Energy MX Nationals series out of the way.

First round didn’t exactly go to plan, but it still wasn’t all bad. I qualified fifth and I felt pretty good, I just felt that I needed to make some changes with my bike setup.

It wasn’t a long way off but I still needed to make some changes to have it where I wanted it to be. You can do months of testing and then you go to the race and the race intensity just changes everything.

After the first round we went out to Toowoomba with the team and we did some more testing and made some big improvements. After that I came out at Coonabarabran with a different mindset and I felt a lot more confident.

We just went out there and did our thing and it turned out good. I really like that track, I’ve always liked it and I really enjoy it and I think we knew we were sort of closer to the mark bike setup wise.

Getting in the zone at the season opener in Conondale. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com

In my motos I didn’t find myself being passed at all, I was always making passes which is a good thing. In the first moto I ended up second and in the second moto I took a fifth place finish.

Before the last moto we had put a new clutch in my bike and it had not been hot yet, so I don’t think I had enough tension on it.

As the five second board went up and I revved my bike up, I could feel it start to disengage, I was pulling the clutch in as far as I could and then, boom, I hit the gate. I think it would of put off the riders beside me!

So I hit the gate and had to pull back, by that time everyone was already halfway down the start straight. So the last race was hard, I made it hard for myself actually, I just had to take a deep breath, put my head down and start charging.

I started picking them off one-by-one and I was pushing hard the whole race, I didn’t let off until I was over the finish-line jump.

In the end it was sort of a good thing, I was able to test my fitness and push my hardest for around 30-minutes, so fitness isn’t an issue for me.

I think we just need to keep improving the bike and then I think the better results will come. But for now I’m pretty happy and we’re pretty well on-track as far as results go.

I set myself a few goals at the start of the year, trying to get through the first couple of rounds and then aiming to progress upwards.

Pushing hard at round two on the long and rough Coonabarabran circuit. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

So I’m sitting fourth in the championship and I’d obviously like to be higher up, but it’s still not a bad place to be in, as I’m always feeling better and better each time I go out on the bike and race.

So I’ve just been hard at it, trying to travel around and to some races in between the rounds. Just to keep my head in the right mindset and keep that race pace and race intensity up.

The big thing that is helping me out and making the task at hand so much easier is the Monster Energy Kawasaki team for sure, It’s so nice to have the big rig and the whole setup at the races, it just makes everything that little bit easier.

The team is great, they supply us with everything we need and it just takes that element of worry out of the picture and we just need to go there and do our thing on race day, everything we need is supplied and at arms reach.

Just taking that pressure off us riders on race day, knowing we have everything there and having such a good group of people around you to help out and make sure everything gets done is just great, it enables me to just focus completely on going out and racing.

Monster Energy Kawasaki provide one of the most trick MX2 bikes in the pits. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Coming into Wonthaggi this weekend, you could call it my home race. I grew up racing around Wonthaggi back in the 60cc and 80cc days and all throughout juniors.

I haven’t had the chance to race down there for a while but I really like the track and I think they will do a great job preparing it for this weekend.

The last time we did a national there was in 2007, so it’s been a while and it’s really good being so close to home, having all my family and friends being able to come out and watch will be really good, as usually the races are so far away.

It will be great to have that family support there and I’m just planning to go out there and do my thing as usual. I want to get out there and ride the best I can and come away from the weekend smiling.

I will be aiming to progress from last round’s results, I’ve set my benchmark now and that is a podium finish. So I’ve just got to work towards making up on that box every weekend.