Dean Porter found some great hard-pack form at Appin's round eight. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Full Force CarsRus Racing’s Dean Porter experienced a breakthrough ride on the unfamiliar hard-pack surface of Appin’s Bellbird circuit at round eight of the Monster Energy MX Nationals.

Porter, a well-known sand specialist, hails from Western Australia where the hard-pack, east coast clay surfaces are few and far between.

The MX1 contender battled it out with some of the big names in the class throughout the day, a seventh place overall score on the day was satisfying result.

“Ive still got a lot of work to do but it was definitely the best I have felt on the hard pack, because it was definitely hard pack,” said Porter. “I had some good battles with some factory guys so I was happy.

“In the 30 minute moto I had a really good race with McCoy and Philips, pretty much the whole moto and ended up getting 11th in that one, so it gave me 7th overall so I was pumped.”

Porter currently sits ninth overall in the MX1 championship standings, after eight rounds of competition.

Round nine of the Monster Energy MX Nationals series will kick-off on 19 August at Moree in New South Wales.