Troy Carroll says his rider will be ready to defend his supercross title in fine form. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

After a tough 2012 Monster Energy MX Nationals campaign for Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jay Marmont, team manager Troy Carroll is confident that his rider can bounce back for a strong supercross series.

Marmont came off the back of four-straight Australian motocross championships, before losing his title in a year filled with injuries, along with acclimating to a completely new team.

Heading into the 2012 Australian Supercross Championships as the defending 2011 champion, Marmont has the target on his back, but Carroll is confident Marmont will not let this title slip out of his hands.

“I’m sure Jay can,” said Carroll. “We were down testing with him last week for four days, and in that time we got his bike a lot better and he dropped a lot of seconds off of his lap time.

“He’s just a real fighter, he lost the motocross championship due to injury, but I can tell you now that I don’t think he’ll lose this supercross championship.”

Carroll comments that Marmont has one of the best training facilities in the country and he has the right mindset and conditioning to take home the 2012 crown.

“He’s focused, he’s fit and he’s ready to go,” he added. “He has one of the best training facilities in the country and I believe he can go there and win that championship.”

Marmont will begin his title defence at round one of the Australian Supercross Championships on 13–14 October located at Dubbo in New South Wales.