Carlton Dry Honda Racing’s Ford Dale believes Broadford can mark a turning-point in his Monster Energy MX Nationals campaign after changes to his program under the guidance of Ben Townley.

Former World Motocross Champion Townley has hosted Dale at his home training track in New Zealand in a bid to refine race strategy and, in particular, produce clean, fast starts.

“My starts have let me down in the first few rounds,” said Dale. “I have had a couple of first turn crashes so my focus for this weekend is to try and get out in front to avoid these situations.”

Dale said the time spent with Townley had allowed him to become more comfortable on his factory CRF450R mount as he looks to put a slow start to the 2013 championship behind him.

“The past two weeks have been great,” said Dale. “Ben and I have worked through a number of changes and strategies and I think it has been extremely beneficial.

“The bike is responding well to the changes and I think I will be a lot more comfortable this weekend.”

Dale came close to a podium at the season opener with a 17-4 result, but has struggled to 9-12 and 9-7 finishes at the second and third rounds respectively.

He heads to the fourth of 10 rounds placed equal seventh with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Monea.