While everyone is practising their whoop-skimming and victory whips for this weekend’s round of the Terex Australian Supercross Championship, Carlton Dry Thor Honda Racing’s Ford Dale boosted across to Japan to race the final round of their national Motocross Championship… and blitzed the MX1 field in both motos. We caught up with him to see what went down.

Ford Dale blitzed the field on debut in Japan aboard a privateer Honda. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Dominating in Japan…
Racing in Japan was awesome. I’ve known one of Honda’s testers, Takashi Katsuya, for a long time and he asked if I wanted to come over. I was keen as and my team manager Yarrive Konsky and Honda Australia game me the thumbs-up to race the final round of the Japanese series at Sugo.

I raced the MX1 class for a privateer team owned by Akira Narita and won qualifying by 13 seconds on Saturday. The two 30-minute-plus-two-lap motos were on held on Sunday, and I worked from 10th into the lead and won the first race by 35 seconds, then holeshot the second moto and won by 20 seconds to go 1-1 on the day. I was really stoked with that, as I had no idea how I’d go against complete strangers.

Racing unknowns as an unknown…
I think that was the toughest part of the weekend. It was weird not knowing any of the riders or how good they were, and no-one had heard of me either. It was daunting and even after I topped qualifying, I didn’t have the same confidence I have in Australia. I hadn’t ridden motocross since Coolum, but I felt good on the bike and everything came together perfectly.

I met a lot of really great people and even representatives of some of our Australian sponsors, so it was a really beneficial trip. If the opportunity arises to go back and race there again I’ll jump at it.

Leaping up to the MX1 class…
I’ve always wanted to ride a 450 and when Brad [Anderson] went home after the MX Nationals it opened the door for me to step up from the 250F. I’m not expecting too much and just want to build a good lead-up to next year’s outdoor season, but I think the 450 suits my riding style: I’m not really aggressive and don’t throw the bike around and valve-bounce the thing all day. I feel I can ride smoother and carry more momentum on the 450 and am loving the change.

A possible appearance on the US AMA supercross scene could be on the cards for Dale in 2013. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

The Dubbo supercross…
I thought the event was really good, there was a solid crowd and the track was good. I’d only been on the CRF250 for 10 days, so I hadn’t had a lot of set-up time. I came from behind to pass Ben [Townley], Boppo [Lawson Bopping] and Todd [Waters] for third in the heat, which I was really happy with.

In the final I got stuck behind Billy MacKenzie and Matt Moss when they crashed and I hurt the knee I had reconstruction on last year. I came back through the pack, but had another big crash and by the time I remounted I was getting lapped. I didn’t want to risk my knee so I decided to DNF. The main positive I took out of the event was that my speed was good.

Expectations for this weekend…
The track looks good from what I’ve seen of it, and I’m feeling good after my win in Japan. After DNFing at Dubbo the championship is out of reach for me now, so I have no expectations. I’ve got nothing to lose and just want to go out and give it everything and keep preparing myself for next year.

Plans for the summer break…
Depending on how I go in supercross over the next three rounds, I might head to the US and do a few rounds of the AMA Supercross, then come back and get ready for the MX Nationals. I’ll have a bit of a break for sure, but I’ll still continue working towards the 2013 championships.