Image: Jeff Crow.

It’s an exciting return to the Australian racing scene for Daniel Milner as he joins the KTM Enduro Racing Team alongside Lyndon Snodgrass after two seasons contesting the American Grand National Cross-Country series.

The 2013 Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) title-winner looks forward to the upcoming season with the factory KTM team after multiple US seasons failed to offer the strong results he was shooting for.

“It’s good, I’m so excited to be back,” Milner told MotoOnline.com.au. “The last few years in America were pretty rough for me being with a team that I struggled with the whole time – to me it didn’t feel like they wanted to win as bad as I wanted to win.

“To be back here now working with the KTM Enduro Team, it’s pretty exciting, especially having GK [Glenn Kearney] as the team manager. He only just retired last year and he’s still hungry to win, he’s putting in all of the effort to myself and Lydon to get the win, so I’m so excited for the season.”

The four-time Australian Four Day Enduro (A4DE) winner expressed his hunger to return to the top of the sport domestically in 2017 aboard the factory KTM 450 EXC.

“I guess it’s the hungriest I’ve been in a long time,” said Milner. “The last time I won a title was back in 2013, so I’m really chasing that this year, we’ve been putting the effort in and everything has been working out to get it done.”

Initially a daunting task, making the move to the Austrian manufacturer for the upcoming season has been a smooth transition for the Victorian who has never felt more comfortable on the bike in his career.

“It was a bit of a worry for me at the start after being on Yamahas my whole career, so it was a little daunting knowing we would have to go through all of the testing to get it right,” he added. “But to be honest right now the new KTM 450 EXC for 2017, it’s unreal and I’m loving it, we’ve set it up to how I like it now and to be honest feeling the best I’ve felt in my whole career on the bike. So if we’re not winning, there’s something wrong that’s for sure!”

Milner will kick off his 2017 campaign with the KTM Enduro Team at round one of the AORC series set to be held at Rawson in Victoria on 22-23 April following the postponement of the Dungog event initially scheduled to start the series last weekend.