Source: Supplied.

Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha’s Dan Reardon is back on home soil briefly as he enters the mid-season West Coast 250SX Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship break.

Confirming a last-minute deal with the factory Yamaha squad as a fill-in rider for the injured Colt Nichols last December, rather than putting in laps here in Australia, Reardon will treat this quick stay as a housekeeping and relaxation mission of sorts.

“I’m probably only back here for a couple of weeks and then I’ll go back to the States,” Reardon told MotoOnline.com.au. “When I flew over in Novemeber to test for these guys, if I wanted that ride I had to stay in America. I went there packed for three days as I initially only planned to be there for three days, which then turned into three months.

“It is nice to be back in Australia to clean up a few loose ends and get a bit more organised but no riding will happen here. I’m still working on things for the end of the year in terms of supercross and that’s pretty much it. I’ll just hang out with family and friends, chill out for a week or so and then get back to it again.”

Entering the seven-round break off the back of a season-best fifth-place finish, the 31-year-old, not yet satisfied with his 2017 performances, will continue to focus on his chosen discipline in a bid to finish the season on a high.

“I feel good about it, the entire weekend was better,” he added. “It wasn’t just the result itself, we were up to speed quicker, we had good pace early in practice and we were on the board for a long time, so it was a good weekend. We’ve still got plenty more left, I wouldn’t say I’m jumping with joy with fifth, but like I said, it’s the best result we’ve had so far this year and we’ve got more to go.

“Generally I’m one of those guys that likes the fact that we continue to race every weekend, it’s been really nice up until now. For me the break is good though, just because of the circumstances I’m in – I dropped everything to go there in the first place.

“For me, it’s just about time, so the more I can ride that bike, the more comfortable I can be and the faster I can be, and that just puts us in a better position. So there will be nothing fancy in terms of game plan and when we go back we have three rounds to go and then it’s over. A lot of guys in America will be testing outdoors, but that won’t be me, we’ll just keep riding supercross.”

Although expected to return and contest the 2017 Australian Supercross Championship with in the premier SX1 division, the Queenslander who last competed full-time in the 250SX category in 2008, confirmed his desire to earn further seats in the US over the years to come.

“I just want to get strong and I want to continue to do this for a few more years yet, so I need to be stronger if I want an opportunity to go back to America and do this again,” Reardon stated. “I’ve had a couple of bad races because we’ve laid on the ground in two of the rounds and tried to play catch-up. We’ve been consistent, but we just need to be consistently a little better and that’s it.”

Reardon currently sits seventh overall in the West Coast 250SX standings and along with fellow Australian, Hayden Mellross, is set to return to action at Century Link Field in Seattle on 8 April.