Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing’s new signing Cheyne Boyd believes his team has what it takes to challenge for the 2011 Rockstar Energy MX Nationals title after finishing a fine fourth at Broadford’s season opener yesterday.

It was a day of fours for Boyd – whose race number is four – as he qualified fourth fastest and took that position overall after racing through the tricky muddy conditions that greeted Pro Open riders early in moto one.

“I definitely overrode during qualifying,” Boyd explained. “Every lap I made little mistakes which cost me time and I ended up fourth fastest.

“The team did an amazing job with the added pressure of the new four-race finals formats imposed. They were well organised and everyone really worked well in what was a high-pressure situation.

“I was disappointed with my starts but overall I am very happy with how we performed today. The team structure was good and I have come away with solid points and only three points off second,” he concluded.

Teammate Michael Phillips endured mixed results, scoring 10th overall for the round after being involved in a frustrating first turn pile-up in the fourth moto.

“I had a bit of a mixed bag today,” Phillips said. “Under the circumstances 10th overall isn’t too bad, it could have been a lot worse. No-one predicted the conditions, it was crazy. It really did turn into a survival situation.

“The team did an amazing job to turn the bikes around in such a short space of time so overall there were a lot of positives,” he added.

Team principal Yarrive Konsky praised his team for a job well done under extremely difficult conditions.

“Both riders rode very well in the conditions and the new team structure ran seamlessly under the direction of Mike Landman,” Konsky said. “Mike’s experience in these condition really helped the team who worked tirelessly to make sure both riders went back out with the best possible equipment.

“Overall it was a very positive day and Cheyne really showed the benefits of his strength and conditioning training under full time sports physiologist Jarrah Breese. He was one of few that were able to come back through the pack from bad starts,” he added.