Picture: FOREMOST MEDIA
IT was far from the weekend former Mount Gambier motocross rider Kirk Gibbs hoped for when he geared up for a double round of the 2019 Australian National Motocross Championships in Murray Bridge.
Gibbs had a heavy fall in Saturday’s final moto and suffered a shoulder injury which saw him unable to compete in Sunday’s event.
Scans were taken this week to determine the severity of the injury, which showed a slight separation in his shoulder, with orders to stay off the bike for three to four weeks.
However, with the next outing not until June 23, he should not miss any further rounds of the series providing there are no complications and his rehabilitation goes well.
The incident still drops Gibbs to eighth in the championship, a disappointing result after he carried pace into the weekend.
He set the time to beat in qualifying on Saturday, six-tenths-of-a-second quicker than teammate Luke Clout, while he finished the first moto second to 2018 national champion Dean Ferris, who
competed in the Australian series for the first time this year due to international commitments.
However, in race two an early fall saw Gibbs forced to play catch up, before a second more serious incident ended his weekend.
He recovered from the first stack and started to cut his way back through the field, until two battling riders fell in front of him and he had no choice but to hit their downed bikes on a high-speed section of track.
“I flew over the handlebars and landed heavily on my shoulder,’ Gibbs said.
“I tried to ride on, but the pain was getting too much so I pulled off the track and went to racesafe.
“On their suggestions I then went to hospital for some tests.”
It was certainly not the outcome Gibbs had planned, as he took to his favourite track in front of a South Australian home crowd.
“I am gutted to have this happen,” Gibbs said.
“I wanted to do well in South Australia, was confident I could make up points in the championship and now with a missed round, my championship is all but over.”
Despite the outcome of Gibbs’ weekend, it was not all bad news for the CDR Yamaha team, as a consistent performance from Clout saw him emerge on top of the championship standings.
He managed a 5-2 finish on Saturday and a 1-1-2 on Sunday to finish second overall in both rounds and to lead KTM’s Hayden Mellross by four points heading into round six at Gympie, Queensland.
The seven-week break should allow Gibbs time to recover and he will hope to make a competitive return to the track in an attempt to put his season back on track.
