Ford Dale is feeling confident heading into this weekend's Phillip Island round of the 2012 ASX series. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Carlton Dry Thor Honda Racing’s Australian MX2 champion Ford Dale has returned to Australia after dominating the final round of the Japanese Motocross Championship at Sugo on the weekend.

After missing out on a place in the Australian MXoN team, Dale jumped at the opportunity to race on foreign soil and blitzed the MX1 field in both of the 30-minutes-plus-two-lap races.

“I raced the MX1 class for a privateer team owned by Akira Narita and won qualifying by 13 seconds on Saturday,” the Sunshine Coaster explains.

“I worked from 10th into the lead and won the first moto by 35 seconds, then holeshot the second moto and won by 20 seconds to go 1-1 on the day. I was pretty stoked with that as I had no idea how I’d go against complete strangers.”

Racing as an unknown entity behind a gate full of riders he’d never heard of, Dale’s dominant performance has given his confidence a serious lift as he heads into this weekend’s round of the Terex Australian Supercross Championship at Phillip Island.

Although the SX-Open championship is out of reach after DNFing the opening round at Dubbo two weeks ago, Dale intends to still come out swinging in two days’ time.

“I’m feeling good after Japan, and I’ve got nothing to lose now. I want to go out and give it everything over the next three rounds and keep preparing myself for 2013,” he says.

This weekend’s round of the supercross championship will be held alongside the MotoGP at Phillip Island for the first time in motorsport history.

Update: Reports are that Dale will be forced out of the season with a shock ACL knee injury. More later.