After showing enormous potential at the opening two rounds of the 2012 Monster Energy MX Nationals, Carlton Dry Thor Honda Racing’s Ford Dale finally put the pieces together at Wonthaggi to come away with his first MX2 overall win of the season.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with Dale to find out how he dug deep and how the entire team put a horrific round two behind them to dominate both MX1 and MX2 podiums at Wonthaggi.

Ford Dale races to his first round win of the season in the MX2 class at Wonthaggi. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Ford, you battled the flu throughout Wonthaggi. How did you overcome it?

I had tried to fight the flu off the entire week leading up to the race, and actually thought I’d avoided it, but it came on pretty hard at Wonthaggi. The RACESAFE guys gave me some medication for it, I drank heaps of water and tried to rest as much as I could between races.

Before the final moto Yarrive and I sat down and made a game plan to get to the front as quick as possible and ride my own race, as you don’t have to use as much energy then as when you’re fighting through the pack. The tactic worked and I was able to get the win, even though I was knackered by the end of the day. The flu didn’t really affect my speed, just my energy levels.

It was impressive to see how fast the entire team bounced back after the shocking round at Coonabarabran when Ben Townley got injured. How did you guys do it?

We were all so gutted when BT got hurt. The whole team was down in the dumps, but Brad (Anderson) and I both knew what we had to do and concentrated on what were there for, and that is to win races. We had to pick up ourselves up and just make it happen.

The whole team put in a massive effort in the two weeks between Coonabarabran and Wonthaggi – we had a restructure and got several little bike issues ironed out, so we could jump back up swinging.

As part of that restructure I heard you ended up with a new mechanic as well?

Yeah, Lee [Walker] was Ben’s mechanic. Ben was supposed to leave for the U.S. anyway, so Lee has taken over the 250 side of things. He’s based in Melbourne and works on the technical side of things and makes sure the bike is running perfectly, then on race day he’s out on the track looking at the bike’s performance and how the lines are developing.

Dan [Kersnovski] is still my day-to-day mechanic and is the guy running the pitboard, prepping the bike on race day and looking after the suspension. So yeah, I actually have two guys watching out for me and it’s been a huge help.

Dale has proven a true title contender during the 2012 season so far. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

What do you think of the pace of the Serco Yamaha riders and Josh Cachia this year? Have they stepped it up much from 2011?

Yes and no. Gibbsy [Kirk Gibbs] is always quick and Cachia always get good starts and it feels like we spend a lot of time chasing him. But really, I think the pace is similar to last year. Everyone is pushing hard to win and now it’s about finding that edge on everyone else.

I feel my speed is good, and if I ride the way I know I can, I know I’m the fastest out there. Consistency is the key for me and so far it’s paying off.

There seems to be a lot of sand tracks on the circuit this year. Seeing as you grew up near Coolum, that’s got to play into your hands as well.

Yeah I guess. The funny thing is as much as I really like riding sand it’s not necessarily my strong point and I seem to have more of an advantage on hard-pack tracks. Wonthaggi is a little similar to Coolum, but is a bit more hardpack, so that suited me, even though it was a tough track to pass on.

Gibbsy is good in the sand and Styke is going to be fast too. The next few rounds are going to be tough and will play a big part in how this series pans out.

Thanks for the chat, mate. All the best for Wanneroo!

Cheers, buddy.