Late last week JDR Motorsports rider Dan Reardon officially announced that he would retire from professional motocross racing at the end of the 2012 season, stunning many in the industry.

After a long and decorated career, the former Australian motocross champion who spent some years racing in the United States says it’s the right time to call it quits and move on to something new.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with the current Monster Energy MX Nationals MX1 contender to hear what he had to say about the decision, and to find out what his plans are when he isn’t on the start line for 2013.

Dan Reardon will be looking to pursue a career after racing in the health and fitness side of the sport.

At the end of last week you announced that you were going to hang up the boots at the end of this season, that must have been a big decision for you?

Yeah it definitely was, it’s not like I just woke up one day and decided that’s what I was going to do.

It was something that I thought about for a while, me and my wife were trying figure out what we had in store for the next few years, and I just got to a stage where I was happy with everything.

I wanted to make sure I was at a point in my life where I could make a change and pursue something different as well.

I’m definitely happy so far with what motocross has given me as a life, I’ve been doing this for 21 years, so it’s been a long time and I think it was about time to pull the pin.

It’s obviously a big thing for Australian motocross to see a champion like yourself decide to retire at the end of the season. What has the reaction been, bigger than you thought or is a relief to finally get it out there?

Yeah it feels like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders. The reaction has been really good, I never expected it to bad but it’s definitely better than I thought It was going to be.

It’s been really good, the rapport from people, sponsors, fans and all those types of things have been really good – I’m definitely 100 percent confident that I made the right decision.

I’m just looking to enjoy the rest of the remaining motocross and supercross and try to finish on a really strong, good not for sure.

You did mention that the plan for the rest of the season was to enjoy it and make the most of the final few races. There has been some promising form from you recently that we have seen, it would be nice to get a couple more of those good results in the last few rounds wouldn’t it?

Yeah for sure, I’m a guy where I ride well If I’m comfortable and I’ll be flying down to Sydney a little bit early this week to do some more testing.

My biggest goal now is to finish on a strong note and I’m really looking forward to supercross as well, to do the same there.

So I just need to be positive about it and like I said the weight has been lifted off my shoulders, so I can have a little bit of fun and try to enjoy these next few rounds.

Reardon will be looking to enjoy his final races and have some fun. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

You are obviously a multi-time champion in Australia and spent a few good seasons in America where you also met your wife. So what were the highlights of your career looking back to this point?

You always meet people in the street saying what a dream job this is, and realistically it is. I’ve been doing something that I love doing for the past 20 years, so for starters that has probably been the biggest one.

The people you meet throughout your journey, just the experience itself. Working at a top level for so long is great and you definitely learn some skills and grow as a person as well.

That’s pretty much it, as I said the people you meet along the way is probably the main thing. There’s a lot of people that I’ll still remain friends with for a number of years, it’s been a good journey.

Finally, for the future you obviously have a lot of big things ahead of you. Can you shed any light on the future at this stage?

At the moment it will definitely be in the scheme of health and fitness, training and all that sort of stuff. I will know a lot more during the break between motocross and supercross which is probably when I will announce exactly what I am going to be doing.

I would like to stay in the sport to some extent, with the experience I’ve gained over the years I’d like to help the younger generation riders and try put them on track so they can do exactly what I did.

Thanks and congratulations on a great career it’s been awesome.

Yeah thanks, as I said we’ll enjoy these next few rounds and it puts a smile on my face, put it that way.