After a long break between champagne drinks, Queensland’s Brenden Harrison has established himself as a serious Australian Supercross contender by winning the opening round of the SX2 championship at Bathurst on Friday night. MotoOnline.com.au caught up with the 24-year-old Instant Security Twe12e Clothing KTM racer to get his take on a big weekend at the Mountain.

Image: Marc Jones Photography.

Great to see you back on top of the box, Harry. Getting that win has been a long time coming for you.

Yeah, it’s definitely been a while, mate. It’s not that I couldn’t do it, but everything just went my way on Friday night. I was really happy and it felt great to get the monkey off my back. It’s given me a lot of belief that I can win races, and it’s such an addictive feeling. My bike suspension was a bit soft and we struggled with it all weekend, but we made it work. In my heat I rode to second place so I could get a half-decent gate pick. In the final I got a good start behind Gavin Faith, but he made a mistake on the first lap, which made my job a lot easier. I basically just rode the event out for the win. It was fairly uneventful for me and it just felt like I was motoing during the week. I wasn’t riding over my head and I felt like I could’ve kept going for an hour.

Unfortunately you couldn’t replicate the same form on Saturday and you finished fourth in the main. What happened at round two?

Yeah I spun off the start, then on the first lap Faith put me over a berm and it took me a while to join back onto the track. I made a pretty good comeback and set the fastest lap of the race as I was coming through traffic, so that was a big positive for me. I caught up to Kale Makeham and went to pass him on the last lap, but I spun out just before the whoops and it stuffed me up. I felt like I rode well on Satuday night, but the results weren’t what I wanted. We’ve made some suspension changes here in Victoria yesterday and I’m really looking forward to pushing harder at Phillip Island this weekend.

What did you think of the opening two rounds from an overall perspective?

I think Yarrive [Konsky] has done a really good job. The crowd was a god size both nights and the stadium was pretty well packed. The track was kind of basic, but at the same time it was safe and made for some good racing. It also held up really well over two nights of racing, so you’ve got to give them credit there. It was pretty awesome holding it over the same weekend as the V8s – we went up to the race for a bit on Sunday, but left early to drive to Melbourne and get my suspension sorted.

Image: Marc Jones Photography.

While Friday was won by a two-stroke, Faith won on a four-stroke on Saturday. What bike do you think had the bigger advantage at Bathurst?

I think it was pretty even between the two. Obviously the starts favoured the two-stroke, but the track itself got quite slippery and I think that suited the smooth power of the four-stroke more.

You pulled out of the MX Nationals after Raymond Terrace with a knee injury. Have you addressed that all, or are you still carrying some niggles?

I did the MCL in my knee while practicing at Coolum just after the Raymond Terrace round. Luckily I didn’t need surgery on it or anything. There were two options open to me at the time – sit out the MX Nationals, rest and let it heal for six weeks, or continue riding hard, snapping it, then getting a full reconstruction. I didn’t want that, so I rested up then got back into training. My body is 100 percent at the moment, which is a great feeling.

We’ve got a quick turnaround to this weekend. What’s the plan of attack for the Phillip Island double-header?

I’m not planning on changing anything apart from the suspension. My preparation heading into the series was really good and I don’t think I could do more. I’ll get a couple of days on the bike this week down here in Victoria, then turn up ready to race for the weekend. Last year I was crook as over the Phillip Island weekend, so I’m really excited to turn up fit and healthy this year. It’s such an awesome event and the MotoGP is ridiculous and so cool to watch.

Certainly is. All the best for it mate.

Thanks mate.