TOMMY Searle endured a tough weekend in the second round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250s, at Phoenix, Arizona, writes Nathan Scott.

In only his second Supercross race, Searle struggled with his Factory FMF KTM through a tough practice and qualifying before claiming a much improved fourth in the heat race to decide the gate pick for the main event.

A positive Searle said: "I've been slowly improving all day. I started off a little slow and then just trying to get the track. The track's technical and I haven't ridden a track like this. It's hard for me, just because I've practiced the test tracks and stuff like that and each race has tracks with lots of sections I've never ridden before, so I'm gaining experience the whole time.

"I'm feeling OK – it's just the big set of whoops (see definition) I've been struggling with. There're two of them, back to back, and I'm losing a lot of time there.

"I got the time down a little bit there in the last session, so that's an improvement, but hopefully in the main I'll get behind someone and follow them through, so it won't be a big issue.

"I've done both practices and I'm going 11th – I don't know what heat I'm in, but I'm looking forward to that now, really. The sand section for me is about the easiest part of the track, but some of these guys are struggling. Everyone has their good and bad sections, and I find that part easy, but I'm struggling in the whoops, so I've got to improve on that."

Going into the race, Searle lined up next to the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki of series leader Jake Weimer, but wasn't able to capitalise, as the gate dropped as they entered the first corner.

Weimer's team-mate, Josh Hansen, took the hole shot for the second week running, but it wasn't to last, as he fell a turn later, handing the lead to the Geico Powersports Honda of Blake Wharton.

Unlike at Anaheim, Weimer was battling to get to the front with the top four, but eventually, with two laps to go, he took the lead and held on to the flag ahead of the Rockstar Suzuki of Ryan Morais and Wharton.

Meanwhile, Searle was fighting a losing battle with the whoops, despite flying on the rest of the track. After making up for a poor start, he was pulling up to the front runners, but every time he got to the whoops, he fell back, holding on to eighth at the line.

Despite the problems, Searle said: "The race was good. I found the track a lot harder than Anaheim 1 this week. I didn't have the best starts in the heats and mains and was having to come through the pack.

"I'm hoping to work on my starts and also my whoop speed. I'm looking forward to the week ahead, but there have been bad reports for the weather, saying that it might rain all week, so Anaheim 2 could be a mud race."

Team manager Casey Lytle summed up the day. "All in all, I think it was good that he improved throughout the day and kind of recovered from that, which is kind of frustrating, because I know he's better than that, but it's always a learning curve. As far as this goes, I think where he started, to where he finished, was respectable, but we just need to work on the whoops and go from there."

Searle holds seventh place in the series as they return to Anaheim, in California.