South Australian Brett Metcalfe is in the form of his life right now, coming off a huge first career win in the Southwick round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship and backing the result up a week later with another podium at Steel City.

Metty had a lot of expectations on his shoulders as the current outdoor number two in the 450 Class, however time to adapt to the Rockstar Makita Suzuki in the early rounds of the outdoors meant he started behind the eight ball.

Now that he has a win and multiple podiums under his belt with Suzuki as teammate to Ryan Dungey, MotoOnline.com.au checked in with Metty at his Californian base to speak about his current form and what we can expect from Team Australia in this month’s Motocross of Nations.

You’ve had a really good couple of weeks, got your first win in America after eight years of trying. First up, tell us how you felt once you got it done at Southwick?

It felt unreal. It’s been a heck of a trip to get to that point, being my eighth season racing in America. I was always striving to win and at some points I’ve been so close. Whether it’s been a mechanical, something to me or running out of gas, it’s always felt like it’s kinda been stripped away. It’s been so close, so to finally get an overall win feels so good.

To stand up in the middle of the podium there was a pretty good feeling. Really, in the last three or four rounds I’ve really picked it up and feel comfortable on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki. Things are looking much better heading into the last round at Pala.

Not only did you win, but you passed Ryan Villopoto and pulled away in moto two on your way to the overall. That’s a big achievement in itself!

Yeah, it was. I mean, the track was really difficult and pretty muddy out there. I always go well in sand, then throw in the rain and it suited me really well. Regardless of everything, Ryan’s a great rider so it was cool to make a pass on him.

To come from where I was, which was a little ways back, to make the pass and put some time on those guys was unreal. The overall was there for the taking, so I just had to keep it upright and stay strong, which was probably the hardest thing – just staying up on two wheels!

You backed up the result with another podium at Steel City, which was pretty much icing on the cake after Southwick. You’re in top form ahead of Pala this weekend…

Steel City was again another good result with third overall, third in the first moto and fourth in the second one. My riding feels like it’s going really good, even though unfortunately my starts are a little up and down.

It kind of hinders my overall result sometimes, and I think that I could have had some better results this year with some better starts. I’ve been trying to work on it and work on it, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

I think this weekend, being my hometown race just 40 minutes from where I live in California, I’m really looking forward to Pala. I just want to go down there and give myself a chance to win that race, hopefully continue the podium streak at least. I just really want to go for a race win.

It did take you a little while to adapt to the Suzuki, especially coming off an injury in Supercross. Is there bike where you want it now? You seem to have a good base for 2012 to work from.

Yeah, I’m definitely at a point where I’m really happy with how it’s performing on the track. A lot of the stuff that we’ve learned this year with the changes to the Suzuki, we’ll be able to carry those into next season. Already we’re a lot better going into next year and I feel really comfortable on the bike.

I’m looking forward to this weekend at then the Motocross of Nations, where I’ll be part of Team Australia again. I’m looking forward to those races and doing well.

What are your thoughts on the MXoN, just to wrap things up. We’ve got yourself, Chad Reed and Matt Moss on the team, so what are your expectations? Will we see Australia on the podium?

100 percent I think it should be a realistic goal. I think if we all have a really good day and it all works out well, there’s no reason why we can’t even win the overall.

We’re all riding well, Mossy won the championship and he’s in good form, plus Chad and myself are three, four in the series over here and have had good seasons. I think going in there it’s exciting. The realistic goal is definitely to be on the podium.

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