There’s no doubt that Queensland’s former multiple-time national champion Dan Reardon is one of the most talented and dedicated guys on the grid, this year returning to Australia with JDR Motorex KTM.

At 25 years of age Reardon has enjoyed the highest of highs and plenty of lows in the sport, and so far this year has continued to battle against frustrating injuries that have held him back from showing his true potential.

Last weekend at Raymond Terrace saw Reardon breakthrough for his first MX Nationals race victory in moto one after he also qualified first, marking a return to form of sorts for him this year.

Despite a niggling wrist injury that he picked up at Appin a week prior, the end result for Reardon on Sunday was fourth overall, and we tracked him down afterwards to find out exactly how his race weekend went.

As you’re about to find out, Australian motocross definitely hasn’t seen the best of Dan Reardon in 2011 just yet.

The weekend you were able to come out strong, take pole position and then win that first moto. To start with, how did it feel to get back into that winner’s circle?

Yeah, it felt good but I’m still dealing with… another thing come up. I had that crash at Appin and hurt my Scaphoid so my wrist hasn’t been that good. It’s been causing my right arm to pump up straight away, so I kind of figured that would be the case.

I came out swinging in that first one and tried to break the boys, which I did, and then I couldn’t hang on anymore. I dealt with that all day. You know, the third moto was probably better again but we just didn’t have enough time to manage it.

Unfortunately we are kind of chasing our tails. But yeah, like you said, it was good to get a win and I’m pumped to do that. I know I can do it, I just need to minimise these other things that are affecting us.

It looked like in moto two you got a bad start, but you actually came back through pretty strong…

Yeah, I did but you know, in saying that I was just surviving. My arms were done by that time. I got a bad start and just kept plugging away, tried to get into some sort of groove and I think that was important.

As the day went on the track got pretty rough, so you definitely had to find some good lines out there.

It’s easy for people to write you guys off when you’re racing with injuries and not getting the results expected, so was this weekend good for you to prove to yourself that you still have what it takes?

Yeah, well to tell you the truth I don’t care about anybody else or what they say. The people who are saying it have obviously never done anything close to what we have done, myself and other riders.

I’ve been around the sport long enough and I see it come and go, but yeah, people will be people. They can be the critics, we can be the riders and the show will go on.

I didn’t feel like I needed to prove anything, you know I’ve done it all before. We’ll sort them out and we’ll be good.

And what’s the plan from here heading into Murray Bridge next month?

I’m actually going to chill out this week, give my wrist some time to heal up, and then I’ll spend the next three weeks getting ready for the next round. It was good, the track got pretty rough.

It was good to get a holeshot, good to get a win, and you know – believe it or not – this is probably the best race I’ve had all year. We’ve still got plenty more.

Just finally, we hear people say that the 350 suits Lites guys coming up, but as a proven 450 rider and also a former Lites champion, how do you think it suits you?

I holeshotted all the other 450s, you know. I don’t know why people write them off because obviously they’re down on CCs, but the bike’s so much lighter than a 450. The bike is definitely a 350 – it’s not like a 250 and it’s not like a 450.

I do favour a 450 because I like the torque of the engine and everything like that, so my riding style has changed a little bit to suit the 350. It’s definitely good enough to get the job done.

Alright well cool, congratulations and we look forward to seeing you progress again at the next round!

Thanks mate, appreciate it.