Kawasaki's Ferris was on the pace at Raymond Terrace and he says he'll be back stronger in SA next month.

Current national number three Dean Ferris has promised he’ll work hard on his fitness between MX Nationals rounds after finishing third at Raymond Terrace on Sunday.

The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider again proved his speed over the weekend only to be chased down by experienced GP veteran Josh Coppins during selected motos, losing his red plate to the Kiwi contender.

Four solid moto results all inside the top five with 3-2-2-5 results gave Ferris third for the round and positions him second place in the championship, just nine points shy of the lead.

“I think I might take this next week easy, have a bit of fun and ride my Jet Ski just to recover a little bit then I know I’ve got to do some solid work to improve my fitness,” Ferris said.

“I think that’s where Josh got me on the last couple of laps in the two motos. I’m going to do some different training, mix it up and get fitter.”

Despite realising his weaknesses, Ferris acknowledged that a podium result is again a positive step as the season progresses.

“To be on the podium is great [and] hat was my goal coming into this weekend,” Ferris added. “In the past I’ve been a bit of a time bomb, getting over confident, going too fast and crashing so to be on the podium again is a big step forward for me.”

Ferris’ factory Kawasaki team will head to the U.S. this week in a bid to further develop the KX450F alongside Pro Circuit in Southern California.