Cheyne Boyd went 12-12 in his first outing with Craig Anderson’s Berry Sweet Lucas Oil Yamaha team. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Berry Sweet Lucas Oil Yamaha new recruit Cheyne Boyd came up to speed quickly at his first Monster Energy MX Nationals meeting aboard the new YZ450F, and the team are confident that the momentum can be built upon in the coming rounds.

Boyd was drafted into Craig Anderson’s squad as replacement for the recently-retired Tye Simmonds, and has already begun to make inroads on the Yamaha despite the tight timeframe in which the deal was established.

Sunday’s round seven marked Boyd’s first competitive outing, and Anderson believes the experienced MX1 class campaigner acquitted himself well.

The Victorian achieved the ninth-fastest time in qualifying and finished a solid 12th in the opening moto.

“That first moto was all about dialling in the bike to how Boydy likes it,” explained Anderson. “We’ve done a bit of testing with him but nothing replaces race conditions to really get the setup sorted.”

Boyd came out firing in the second moto, charging to fourth early in the piece before going down and re-mounting dead last. He was able to thread his way back through the field and by the wave of the chequered flag had reached position 12.

“The changes we made to the bike between motos put us right on track,” said Anderson. “We now have a clear idea of what direction we need to go in and we’ll fine tune that with more testing during the week.

“We should get to Swan Hill with a more complete package and we’re looking forward to seeing some good results. As you’d expect, Cheyne’s been great to work with and his speed is undeniable.”

Hervey Bay marked Boyd’s first race on YZ450F machinery since departing Craig Dack’s factory Yamaha outfit at the end of 2010.