In his return to the 450 class at Dubbo, Cheyne Boyd battled to eighth. Image: Grant Reynolds/FiftySix Clix.

DPH Motorsport Honda’s Cheyne Boyd will make minor adjustments heading into Phillip Island’s second round of the Terex Australian Supercross Championship after picking up a fourth at Dubbo’s season opener last Saturday night.

Returning to the Open class after campaigning a 250F outdoors, the experienced Victorian edged inside the top 10 at Morris Park Speedway with eighth in the SX-Open main event.

After a very strong pre-season, Boyd went into the event full of confidence, but struggled with his bike set-up and the tighter than usual track conditions.

After qualifying eighth fastest, Boyd lined up in heat one and finished third for a direct transfer to the 20-lap main.

“I felt okay going into the main event, my heat race went well, but I knew I had to pick up a second per lap to run up front,” he explained.

Following a bad start, Boyd was forced to settle for eighth in the final, but remains upbeat for Phillip Island in two weekends time.

“After Saturday night’s race, I feel we need to keep working on the handling of my bike to help me feel more comfortable in those conditions,” Boyd added. “In the weeks leading up to this round, everything was perfect.

“My bike was great, the tracks I have been riding on are the best around and I really felt like I was where I needed to be – I just struggled on the tighter track and the hard dusty surface.

“To me, eighth is not a great result, but it could have been a lot worse. We know what we need to work on and have two weeks to get it sorted. Jay [Marmont] is riding awesome and I would be love to be up the front battling with him.”

To check out a pre-season film produced by Shift in the lead-up to the ASX series, visit this link.