Entering his 11th year as a professional racer in 2012, Dan McCoy made the move from a factory ride to the privateer Hart and Huntington/InsureMyRide outfit riding a Suzuki RM-Z 450.

Not satisfied with his current ninth overall in the Monster Energy MX Nationals MX1 class at the halfway point, McCoy set off to America in the mid-season break to hone his skills in a bid to improve his results.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with McCoy, who hails from Sydney, to talk about his US trip, the outdoor season to date, two-stroke training and the new-look Australian Supercross Championship coming up this later year.

Dan McCoy has been with the Hart and Huntington/InsureMyRide Suzuki team in 2012. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

You took a recent trip to America in the mid-season break, what did you get up to over there?

Basically the plan was to go there and ride as much as I could in the four-week trip. I wanted to get my speed up, my fitness and most of all ride some good tracks.

The tracks around home have been really bad and there’s just nowhere to ride around home, so that was the plan for the trip to just get some good bike time.

Do you think that time in America will help you improve in the second half of the Monster Energy MX Nationals series?

Yeah, for sure. I rode 18 times over there in four weeks and did two races within that time. Just the bike time is obviously going to be the biggest advantage compared to riding here in Australia.

The way the weather has been here and the tracks we have to ride, they just don’t hold up to what we are trying to achieve. So I’m definitely more confident now, I’ve got a better bike setup and I’m pretty much ready to go.

You currently sit ninth overall in the MX1 standings, are you happy with how the first half of the outdoor season has gone for you?

No, definitely not. I’m not happy one bit with any of my rounds out of the first five of the series. It’s hard doing what we are doing as a privateer team and we hoped and planned to get a lot more sponsorship for the team and it hasn’t worked out.

So to be sitting where I am in the championship sucks, because I know I can do better than that, but it’s difficult driving a van around trying to achieve decent results.

I’m looking forward now though – that was then and this is now. I’m definitely a lot more confident and I feel a lot better on the bike, mentally I feel great as well, so I’m looking forward to it.

You’ve been seen practicing locally on a 250 two-stroke, is that something you do often within your training program?

I love my two-strokes and I always loved them, you can learn so much from riding a two-stroke with flowing and carrying corner speed, and it just makes it exciting. Riding everyday is obviously what I love to do, but it’s good throw something different into your program.

They’re just a lot of fun, they’re hard to go fast on and when you do go fast on one it’s a great feeling. So it’s always something that I’ve liked doing, I’ve got two 250 two-strokes at home and I just love them. If I wasn’t racing the MX1 Class I’d be racing the 250 two-stroke in the MX2 class.

McCoy currently sits ninth in the MX Nationals at the halfway point. Image: Adam Riemann.

In 2012 you made the move to the Hart and Huntington/InsureMyRide privateer team effort, how is that working out for you so far?

Kale [Wallis] from Airstyle Imports has been trying as hard as he can to get sponsors, to get noticed and to develop the team, we all work together in trying to make the team bigger and better all the time.

But when we don’t have TV time and good exposure for what we’re doing out there, it’s hard to attract sponsorship from outside of the sport especially and sponsors inside the sport are doing it tough, from what they tell us.

So it’s hard to move forward and it’s hard to get on top of it. It’s only the first year, but if things don’t change with the motocross series the Hart and Huntington team probably won’t be there next year, we’ll just be looking more forward to supercross.

Finally, with the Australian Supercross Championship schedule now announced for 2012. What do you think of the new series and are you looking forward to it coming in as the current number three rider on the 450?

Yeah, definitely. I’m super excited that [Yarrive] Konsky has got a hold of the championship, he’s so passionate about the sport and I’m sure he will do the right thing for the sport. It’s great to have someone like him take control.

I really enjoy supercross, it’s definitely what I’m better at. I believe I’m better at it purely because it’s easier to have a supercross track, maintain it and be on top of it.

So I’m super excited, I can’t wait. I wish we could have a 10 round supercross series and a four round motocross series [laughs]. But it’s going to be great, especially if they hold a race at then MotoGP, the crowd is going to be the biggest a supercross has ever seen.