Marmont was relieved with his breakthrough podium at Auckland on Saturday night. Image: Sport The Library.

CDR Rockstar Energy Yamaha’s Jay Marmont says his first podium finish of the season at Auckland’s round of the Super X, Australasian Supercross Championship, comes as a relief in his quest to fight for the 2010 title.

The reigning three-time MX Nationals Champion had a brilliant breakthrough race victory in the fourth and final race of the Quad Challenge across the Tasman on Saturday night, his 3-2-3-1 tally placing him second overall for the round and boosting him to second in the series.

“I’m relieved to finally get on the podium and get that breakthrough win for the 2010 season,” the 27-year-old from Wollongong in NSW said. “I’ve been riding fairly tight this year, so to finally go out there and run up front gives me a lot more confidence heading into the remaining rounds.”

Marmont now sits 32 points behind series leader, American Josh Hansen, but is confident that he can build from the momentum gained in New Zealand on his 2011 model Yamaha YZ450F.

“I know that I can win races now, my lap times were there all weekend and so was my race craft,” he continued. “Unfortunately Hansen gained points on me again in the championship, but I’ll go out to have some fun without the pressure of the championship and try to get some more wins.”

The series will now remain in New Zealand next weekend when the series moves to the South Island in Dunedin for round five of the seven-round 2010 championship.