Image: Phil Smith.

Finishing third in the New Zealand Motocross Championship will provide the springboard Jay Wilson is searching for heading into the 2018 Pirelli MX Nationals, overcoming a relatively mixed campaign to seal a series podium result.

Wilson scored three overall podiums in four rounds after a pair of mechanicals dashed his hopes at Hawke’s Bay’s penultimate stop, capturing a season-best finish of second at Rotorua.

Despite those technical faults very near denying him of a place on the championship dais, the 2015 NZ and Australian MX2 champion was satisfied with his pre-season progress made alongside Altherm JCR Yamaha team owner Josh Coppins.

“It was testing, for sure,” Wilson commented. “It’s obviously not the outcome that we wanted or the goal that we had planned, but in saying that we had a really good pre-season. I learned a lot about myself and about the bike. I don’t think I’m physically at 100 percent yet, which is a good thing because we don’t want to peak too early, and doing the New Zealand series was good to get that confidence back.

“It wasn’t so much about the results themselves, more so about how I felt and believing I deserve to ride a motorbike still. I developed as a person over there and I feel really confident. In terms of the championship, we got lucky to get back on the podium after two DNFs at the third round, but there were a lot of positives and I’m in a really good place. It’s exciting to be back racing and in the form that I’m in now.”

Locally, Wilson has signed for the Yamalube Yamaha Racing team in his full-time return to Australian motocross after spending part of last year in the world championship, then rounding out the year with Raceline Pirelli KTM. His year ended on a high-note after clinching victory at Jimboomba’s final round of supercross, sealing third in the standings as a result.