Daniel McCoy aboard the TM Racing Australia MX 450Fi. Image: Rachel Pegg.

Current Australian Supercross number two Daniel McCoy was a surprise entry during last weekend’s Tivoli round of the Sunshine State Motocross Series last Sunday with the TM Racing Australia team.

McCoy, who recently parted ways with Carlton Dry Honda after campaigning the first half of the Monster Energy MX Nationals, was impressed with the TM MX 450Fi in what was a one-off appearance with the team.

Initially McCoy tested the TM during a private session in Queensland, before committing to the Tivoli event with TM Racing Australia owner and manager Andrew Franklin.

“I had not been doing a lot race wise since Conondale back in June,” McCoy explained. “I started talking to Andrew from TM and one thing lead to another and he asked if I would be interested in heading up to Queensland and testing a bike.

“I thought, why not? I have nothing to lose, plus I had seen Tanel Leok doing quite well on the bikes in the World GPs and I thought it would good to see what they were actually like for myself. I went up last Monday for a test and was impressed with the bike. It really was awesome – it is definitely an underrated bike.

“It has so much potential and so many adjustments you can make. Andrew plugged in a computer and there were just so many options we had to make the power of the bike suit my riding style. I was very impressed and could not believe how good it was to be honest, so I decided to head back on the weekend to have a race.”

McCoy finished fourth in the opening moto, until a loose exhaust forced him out of the second moto.

“I was in second place behind Marshall late in the race, I flat landed a jump and bottomed out the suspension which caused the pipe to jam up against something and come loose.,” he explained.

“It was such a shame, I wanted to finish that race, there are a lot of people that want to talk the bike down because it is not a proven bike, it was honestly just some really back luck out there today. I really did like the bike, there is nothing bad to say about it. It is a race bike out of the crate I believe.”

The weekend was a positive experience for the TM Racing Australia crew, working with a quality professional of McCoy’s calibre.

“It was great to have McCoy out here last Monday and also for this weekends racing,” Franklin said. “He was more than happy with the bike and could not believe how good it actually was straight out of the crate.

“Motocross can be a harsh sport at times and we had a little bit of misfortune today, but that happens to everyone. We certainly gained a lot from having a rider of McCoy’s quality testing and racing our bike and hopefully some day down the track we will be able to work with him some more.”

The Tivoli round was won by experienced Queenslander Robbie Marshall.

McCoy is expected to confirm his position for the upcoming Australian Supercross Championship in the coming weeks.