Defending champion talks about his dominant Nowra performance.
CDR Yamaha’s Dean Ferris returned to Australian racing action with impressive form at Nowra’s sixth round of the 2017 Motul MX Nationals. The defending champion picked up right where he left off with yet another overall victory in the MX1 category to mark his sixth-straight win of the season. MotoOnline.com.au caught up with Ferris post-race to talk about not only the event, but also his mid-season US trip and more!
Dean Ferris, a double victory here today at Nowra, another strong result obviously and six overall wins in a row.
Yeah, everything is going well of course, I had a good break, it was busy and I didn’t take any time off like I did last year. I was just trying to keep the momentum rolling for the USA thing and I feel like it’s all going well. I’m really happy with the sixth win and the double victories are really cool.
This track here sort of loops back on itself in places, but it’s pretty high-speed as well. How was it for today?
Yeah, it’s weird this track. You’re clicking fifth gear and then you’re coming into a hairpin… I definitely struggled a little bit in the first one with arm-pump in the tight section out the back, I’d get out of that and then try to loosen up. I’m just thankful that I got the hole-shot and could check out because Metty [Brett Metcalfe] was really fast in the first moto. It’s definitely different to High Point, but not so bad, pretty good soil here.
In terms of the championship, you’re obviously step-by-step inching towards defending it, but that’s not really on your mind at this point is it? It’s still a case of just bettering yourself, working with the team and working towards the future.
Yeah, I’ve said it time and time again, just focus on improving. We’re getting these double victories, but I still feel like I can improve a little on little things – I love going home and working on that, that’s what it’s all about. We’ve still got four rounds and it’s a lot of points and a lot of races, we’re going to keep our head down and keep working forward.
Was there anything that you learnt racing overseas during the break?
Yeah, for sure. It was hot and I just found out that being acclimatised is very important. It gets that hot in our summer where we live, but it hasn’t been that hot in a while. But for sure, I feel like there’s things that I can improve on at an international level as well, so it’s kind of exciting for me.
In terms of being over in the US, you said on the podium that it is where you would like to be in the future, but has there been any contact at all over there at this point?
I’ve sent an email or two and obviously it’s pretty early in their championship, although it is kind of time for them to work out what they want to do. Hopefully in the next month or two we can see where we’re at, plan B is to stay here and ride for CDR because it’s such a great team and I love working with the guys. I wouldn’t go over there unless I had great equipment that I could do really well on, but if the right opportunity comes up, I’d love to go over there and see how good I can go.
You’ve also confirmed just recently that you’re staying on and doing supercross here, so that should be a good one and with the type of form that you’re in and what you learnt last year, I think you should be a real contender.
For sure, I got second in the championship last year, top Aussie, and I felt like I improved heaps throughout the championship. I was kind of like a full amateur at round one and by the end I felt like I belonged there. I’m excited about doing it and I’m happy I signed to do it, we’ve got a good little championship going and I’d love to be a part of it.