Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jay Marmont is feeling confident after a strong fourth place start to his 2013 Monster Energy MX Nationals MX1 campaign.

The multi-time Australian Motocross champion kicked off his Raymond Terrace season opening assault with a disappointing qualifying result after being hit in the shoulder by a flying rock.

But the experienced veteran of the premier class bounced back in moto one to capture a second place finish, before backing that up with a ninth in the second 30-minute moto of the day.

“Although I just missed the podium, it’s a strong start for the season,” said Marmont. “I’m really happy with my start in the first race. I wasn’t happy with qualifying, I got hit by a rock in the collarbone and it shook me about and I was unable to put down a good qualifying time.

“That affected my overall unfortunately because I didn’t get any points from Super Pole. But I bounced back in the first moto with a very good start and eventually finished second behind Todd [Waters].”

Carrying his qualifying injury through the day, Marmont opted to contest the second moto without the use of pain killers and eventually succumbed to the pain and loss of strength.

“I was really confident going into the second moto,” he added. “I didn’t take any pain killers though and I was expecting everything to be okay, but I lost strength in my arm and didn’t get the result I was after. It’s still a good position to be sitting in fourth overall heading to Murray Bridge.”

Marmont currently sits 21 points behind series leader Todd Waters with nine rounds of racing remaining, the series heads to Murray Bridge in South Australia for round two on 28 April.