Image: Octopi Media.

Still in the hunt for the 250SX West championship, Garrett Marchbanks opens up on what he needs to improve as he hunts for more podiums, now just nine points out of the championship lead.

After his well-documented departure from the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team, Marchbanks has found a home with the Club MX Yamaha team, and also managed to find the top five in every main event so far.

While he’s only had one podium so far this season, Marchbanks is still in contention for the title. Speaking to the media following Arlington 2, Marchbanks pointed out exactly what’s holding him back from more podiums.

“For sure my starts. Besides my heat race last night, [which] I think I was top three or four, besides that, I think I haven’t been inside the top 10 in my starts this whole season. So I mean, I’ve just been killing myself on the starts every weekend. I feel like if I can get a top-five start, I should be able to podium. I feel like that’s just the main part I’m missing at the moment.”

When asked if his split with Pro Circuit was still fueling his motivation, Marchbanks said he’d turned the page and is focused on finding his way to the podium.

“I’ve moved past it. Now it’s just been chasing another podium. Round one I feel like I did it so easily, now it’s just been fourth, fifth every weekend now. Especially [Tuesday], third was right in front of me there the last four minutes, so that was pretty hard to take fourth. The motivation now is to get podiums, I feel like that’s what’s motivating me at the moment.”

“The bikes been feeling great, I’ve been feeling great. I feel like a podium is right around the corner for us, so I’m pretty happy with where I’m at right now in points, I mean anything could happen at this point.”