Entering last season’s Australian Off-Road Championship all eyes were on ex-world champion Stefan Merriman, the Kiwi coming to Oz from Europe for a full season only to be upstaged by rookie ex-Motocrosser Toby Price.

One year on and Price is the leading force in the AORC, picking up the number one plate last year, moving from Kawasaki to the Motorex KTM team for 2010 and dominating last weekend’s season opener at Port Macquarie in New South Wales.

The “Port Mac Piston” was staged in incredibly muddy conditions with Price proving the best in the wet, with a three-hour Cross Country being run on Saturday and the regular Sprint event held on Sunday.

MotoOnline.com.au gave Price a call today to find out his thoughts of the opening rounds, his switch to KTM and where he intends to go with his off-road career.

Toby, the opening rounds are in the books and you’ve got a perfect score so far. You must be pumped on the Port Mac results?

Yeah, definitely. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season, the KTM is an awesome bike and everything went to plan, for sure.

I hear it was a gnarly weekend in the muddy conditions, right?

Port Macquarie had a lot of rain over the weekend, but the organisers did a great job of keeping the track in good condition considering the weather. There was just one single line in a rut, but yeah, it was just go for it from there!

You guys only did one Cross Country round last year, so how did you handle it in the mud?

Yeah, last year we only had one Cross Country, which I learnt a lot in. I’ve been doing a lot of training and have done a lot of riding so I knew that my fitness was up to scratch. Everything went good, I kept a good pace and came home with the win. I’m just happy to be a part of it really.

The series is shaping up to be a big one this year between you, Merriman and also the other factory guys, but so far, so good for the number one… are you feeling any extra pressure this year?

There’s always extra pressure when you’re running the number one plate, but I’ve got a lot of confidence at the moment and everything is going to plan.

There are always going to be guys who have the potential to win races, guys like my teammates Jarrod Bewley and Ben Grabham, plus I’m sure Merriman will come on strong and Ben Burrell has what it takes to do something once he gets some experience as well.

You’ve switched to KTM and made the perfect start with victories at rounds one and two, so how are you settling in there?

Everything is going good. It’s a good environment, the team is good and the bikes are awesome. We’ve got a good package with strong motors and Chad’s Offroad Setups has done an unreal job with the suspension as well. Hopefully I can keep getting good results at all the rounds and bring home another number one plate.

Next up is the Australian Four Day Enduro (A4DE), so is that your next goal – to win the big one in Aussie off-road?

I’d definitely love to win the Four Day this year because I want to try and go overseas next year, so it would be great to get an A4DE win under my belt before then. It’s four days of racing and anything can happen, but I’ve just got to stay smooth and consistent so I make it to the final day.

You’re obviously complete in your transition from Motocross to off-road, so what are you aiming for in your career at this stage?

The transition has gone pretty good and my plans are to go to Europe to race the World Enduro Championship. I have a couple of rounds I can go and do this year, so we’ll see what it’s like, otherwise I’ll try to get over to America in the GNCCs. That’s my plan, but we’ve still got a lot of racing here first before anything like that starts to happen!

Okay well congrats on the win, we’ll catch up with you next time mate.

No worries, thank you very much.