Image: Jeff Crow.

CDR Yamaha’s Dan Reardon is on the verge of capturing a fourth-career Australian Supercross Championship at Sunshine in Victoria this Saturday, 5 December, after a convincing podium at last weekend’s penultimate round.

Night one at the AUS-X Open doubled as a championship round on Saturday, where Reardon trailed internationals Chad Reed and Gavin Faith for third position on a night where arch-rival Matt Moss crashed out of title contention.

The exit of Moss enabled Reardon to coast to the finish and extend his championship advantage from 10 points to 31, now over teammate Kade Mosig. Winning a championship round awards 35 points in the championship with just one round remaining.

“I got off to a great start in the heat tonight and had a confidence-boosting win,” Reardon explained. “I think it’s important to set a good tone early at events like this and it also gives you a good gate pick for the main event.

“Because of the indoor style track, there were no pit boards allowed, so I really didn’t know what was going on behind me and things were pretty hectic in the opening laps of the final. It wasn’t until I saw Matt had crashed and not re-entering the race that I knew what had happened. Third’s not great, but it’s just what I needed for the championship so my goal is to keep doing what I’m doing and finish the last round strongly.”

A title win for Reardon would mark his fourth national supercross championship, winning the 2005 250 title before winning back-to-back 450 championships in 2006 and 2007. From there he travelled to the US for three seasons before returning home in 2011.

Reardon announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the 2012 following two difficult years with KTM, but made a shock return as part of the powerhouse CDR Yamaha outfit on the eve of the 2015 MX Nationals.