The start of the 2012 AMA Supercross series was a tough one for South Australian Brett Metcalfe, struggling to 11th at Anaheim 1 before improving to ninth in Phoenix.

While his main event results are reasonable on paper, Metcalfe was unusually off the pace through practice and qualifying, which was cause for major concern as Yoshimura Suzuki’s lone factory rider.

But that all changed at Los Angeles Dodger Stadium last weekend at the third round, with a new direction in bike settings boosting Metcalfe’s confidence and helping him on his way to a solid fifth place in the main.

The result raised the 27-year-old to seventh in the standings, with momentum on his side in what is his second season in the premier 450 class.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with Metty at MX Heaven in Perris, California, earlier today to speak about his start to 2012.

Last weekend was a breakthrough for you, finishing in the top five, so how did that feel to get a good result after what has been a pretty tough start?

Yeah, I felt really good. This field is very deep with talent, so I think anywhere in the top five is very respectful. It kind of came about a little earlier than expected really, after those first few rounds being a little off with a few things. It came around a little quicker and that’s really good for us, because we’ve still got some things to do.

The biggest thing that made me most satisfied from the LA round more than the top five was just the way I felt in the bike and the way I was able to ride – that was the biggest positive that I came away with.

Fifth place was obviously awesome, but I was just more so happy with the way I was riding and with the bike. We really hit the bike in the right areas that we needed to, to make it better for me, so I was really excited about that.

Your improvements from week to week seem like you’re making pretty big steps forward, so you guys have obviously been working hard away from the races with Suzuki?

Yeah, it’s interesting because I have been sick, so I didn’t really get a whole lot of time to ride. We really just sat down and gathered our thoughts. I tried to explain what I was feeling on the track and the issue, so they kind of just went away and did some different things. Man, it was perfect.

It was a little scary in LA, I had a complete different bike, then practice got rained out. I was just hoping that everything was going to work out good and it did. My first lap on the track I knew that the bike was exactly how I wanted it to be and I went from there.

Now we have a really good base setting to work with, so we can go from track to track without having too big of an issue. I think we’re where we need to be with the Yoshimura Suzuki, so now it’s just time to chip away, get better as a rider and see what we can do for the rest of the season.

This is your second year with Suzuki on the factory RM-Z450, but with Ryan Dungey gone to KTM, you’re now the lone guy on the team. Does that add pressure, or make it easier in some ways?

I don’t feel any extra pressure. Obviously everybody always says they don’t feel extra pressure, but from the team’s standpoint they’ve kind of pulled me aside and said “look, Metty we don’t expect you to take off where Dunge left off or anything like that. Just go out there and do your best, we’re going to support you 100 percent and try to do even more than last year”.

So, really the pressure on my shoulders is what I put on myself. I do feel it a little bit being the only guy out there and especially the lead Suzuki rider, so for the first time in my career I’ve kind of been feeling it.

It’s pretty cool, a good feeling in a way that you feel like you’re the man and you’re going to fly the flag for them. It’s a cool feeling, but that does come with a tag, too. I’m just going to work hard and do my best, so that’s all they want from me.

Is there a number that you’re looking for in supercross, as far as results go? Is it top five, top 10, or are you just trying to build momentum toward to nationals?

For now I’m just building my base for supercross. The way we started the series, everybody starts on zero and we realised we had some things to do. Right now there’s nothing that I’m putting numbers on – I just have to keep building. Fifth was good, but we’re still quite a ways off with a few things.

Once I see that I can get up there and fight for podiums, we’ll just start progressing as it comes along. Obviously for outdoors it will be a strong season for me and it’s something I look forward to, but for now I just need to build on this momentum that we’ve got going. We’ll see where we can take it.