Image: Foremost Media.

Jackson Richardson will use his American experience and preparation program to his advantage as he gears up for the 2017 Motul MX Nationals MX2 series with the Serco Yamaha team.

Recently returning from an American pre-season training trip, the current Australian Supercross Championship SX2 title holder’s main focus was building a solid base off the bike before returning home to focus more on his riding.

“I went over to get some riding in and I also have a trainer over there who I do a lot of work with,” Richardson told MotoOnline.com.au. “I went over to do a lot of off the bike stuff before I start over here in Australia. Now that I’m back here I’ll be on the bike a lot, so I like to get all of that off the bike stuff, my strength and everything, sorted over there.”

With a mixture of conditioning and on-track training under his belt, the Queensland native is confident in his pre-season to date and plans to continue the hard work to achieve the goal of becoming the 2017 MX2 champion.

“I’m feeling good, I’ve had a pretty good pre-season up to this point in time,” he said. “Hopefully we can continue that and have a good go this year and hopefully end up with a championship, that’s the goal. We’ll wait and see how it goes, but we’re putting in the big ones right now so hopefully it pays off.

Contesting both the Monster Energy AMA Supercross and Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship for the past four years, Richardson admits he is yet to ride many of the tracks on this year’s Australian motocross calendar, a challenge he looks forward to facing.

“Honestly, I’ve never been to half of the tracks that are on the calendar, so it’ll be different for me,” he explained. “I’ve watched a lot of footage of them, but it’s a different thing when you get there. It’ll be different that’s for sure, a lot different to the states, but it’ll be a good challenge.”

With ample experience training and riding with a selection of the world’s best 250cc racers, Richardson plans to apply that experience and knowledge to his 2017 Australian campaign to gain an edge over his competitors.

“The pace is a lot different over there and they’re able to maintain it for 30-minute plus two lap motos,” he added. “That’s how they operate and that’s how they train, so I’ve been doing that for the last few years and I’m going to continue to do that now while I’m here in Australia. Hopefully with that experience, and doing that for the last few years, it will help me in the long-run here.”

Richardson’s Serco Yamaha team last claimed the Motul MX Nationals MX2 championship in 2014 with Luke Clout at the helm of their factory Yamaha YZ250F.