A ‘silly mistake’ cost Dean Ferris any chance of the overall victory at Appin, but the form that the three-time national champion was able to deliver at the second round of the 2023 Penrite ProMX Championship spells an ominous warning for his rivals.

Ferris, 32, finished runner-up in the national MX1 standings with Honda Racing last year and came out of a short-lived retirement to compete onboard the all-new 2023 YZ450F with support from Brisbane Motorcycles this season.

A clinical performance saw him emerge on top of the qualifying shootout at Appin, going on to dominate moto one by over 30 seconds in a convincing wire-to-wire showing. The two-part moto two saw him make a costly error, however, crashing out of the lead on the second lap before further dramas shortly after saw him drop outside of the top 10.

He was able to recover to fifth in that bout, later leading every lap in part two to cross the line first, landing third in the moto when the Olympic-style scoring was factored in, and second overall on countback with equal points to defending champion and round winner Aaron Tanti (CDR Yamaha Monster Energy).

“I finally got a pole position, I wasn’t even close last year [to qualifying fastest], but it was good man, three holeshots and I won the first moto by a long way,” Ferris recalled. “I was like in a bit of a flow.

“The second one I made a silly mistake and crashed, then crashed again two corners later, that’s what I am most annoyed about. I put in a good ride to get back to fifth, but I really needed to get back to fourth or third even for a shot at the overall or the second moto win.

“Then in the last moto, got the holeshot and just cruised around, really was just riding to kind of 70 percent, just making sure a didn’t make any mistakes and got the moto win again which is cool.

“The biggest thing that I am happy about is just my riding, I’m in a flow and it’s really, really enjoyable. The bike is freaking awesome man, just having a good time. It was a really, really hot one today and I felt like I was in great shape, it definitely wasn’t as hard as some of the motos I had been putting in this summer. All of the hard work has paid off, especially on a day like this.”

Ferris will have the opportunity to continue his strong form when the 2023 Penrite ProMX Championship resumes at Wodonga, Victoria on 16 April for round three.