Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

Third place at the opening round of the 2017 Australian Supercross Championship in Jimboomba is a result Dan Reardon feels he can build off in his return the Kawasaki brand.

The Mega Monster Energy Kawasaki rider qualified second before transferring to main with a heat race victory, although despite running second for a portion of the final, an incident with a lapped rider forced him the relinquish the position and settle for the final spot on the podium.

Reardon, a multi-time Australian supercross champion, was evidently dissatisfied with the result, however acknowledged the points scored are an important start in the short six-round title hunt.

“It’s one thing changing brands and trying to develop a bike to get comfortable on it, so we felt we had a pretty good base going in there,” Reardon explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “The track threw a couple of spanners in the works and we made some adjustments to suit.

“[Third] was good, I just don’t feel it was good enough. The entire day went pretty good, we were just chasing ourselves a little bit. Ending up third on the box is still a good result – it’s good for Kawasaki and Mega Monster Energy Kawasaki Team, and it’s good for me – it’s a short championship and every point counts. I’ll take third on what I thought was was a touch of not a great night.”

The popular Queenslander hasn’t lined up for a race since the final stop of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship in May, comparing his situation to Saturday’s main event victor Justin Brayton (Penrite Honda Racing).

“It felt good, it was one thing I was excited to do – to go racing,” he continued. “There’s only so many laps you can do around your own track and other supercross tracks – there’s only so much practice and testing you can do, you really need to get out there and race.

“I could take a guess, it’s been about 14 weeks since I last raced, which is quite a bit of time. I just tried to stay busy, motivated and everything like that. Justin is in similar boat, but all in all, I felt good. We just have iron out a few small wrinkles now and be prepared for round two.”

The next round of the Australian Supercross Championship is slated to be hosted in Bacchus Marsh, Victora, on Saturday, 14 October.