GasGas Racing Team’s MX2 contender Noah Ferguson has revealed a long list of injuries following that practice crash in the week leading into Appin’s second round of the Penrite ProMX championship.

Initial x-ray results showed a fractured collarbone, which Ferguson has ridden through in the past and was confident he could do so again to secure valuable championship points heading into a four-week break. However, after attempting to race round two at Appin, the Queensland-based rider suspected that his injuries were greater than the fractured collarbone alone.

“Basically, after Appin, I went to get more scans,” Ferguson told MotoOnline. “I got a CT scan, MRI and ultrasound on some other areas of my body that I was feeling pain in. Turns out, I had a broken humerus, scapula, rib cage, T5 and obviously the collarbone, but I also bruised my lung, so I gave myself a good whack and wasn’t really aware of the extent.  My first scans only showed a broken collarbone.

“Right now, the plan moving forward is to take it day-by-day, I don’t want to return to racing unless I feel I can really be competitive. So we’ll play it by ear heading into Wodonga and see what happens. It’s a bummer, I had a great start to the season and I was feeling great on the bike, but these things happen and this is the sport we’re in. I’ll learn from it moving forward and hope that it makes me a better rider overall.”

His 2023 season was off to a flying start at round one in Wonthaggi, qualifying fastest and taking home third in the opening round. The Penrite ProMX Championship now heads to Wodonga, Victoria, on April 16 for round three. Ferguson sits 14th in the MX2 standings after failing to score points in either of the two motos at Appin, despite lining up for qualifying and moto one.

Defending Yamaha Australian Off-Road (AORC) E1 champion Kyron Bacon has sustained a broken left femur in Tasmania and has undergone surgery to begin the recovery process.

Bacon sustained the injury while racing at a Tasmanian enduro event and went under the knife on Sunday to help repair the break in his left leg, with Motorcycling Australia’s Sporting Director Simon Maas instrumental in organising a high level of care in a timely manner.

“We had a race in Tassie on the weekend, just the Pony Express so I partnered up with my brother to have a bit of fun,” Bacon said to MotoOnline.com.au. “We had a pretty good start and I kind of came around this bit of a corner and the back just hit a rock, hit the wrong line.

“It just kind of happened quickly and threw me over the bars, landed in the scrub and my leg was kind of hanging sideways and a bit tender at the time. Ended up getting into hospital, had surgery the next day in the morning and am home now, which is good.

“The doctors are saying about six to eight weeks, I’ll kind of take it day-by-day and just see how it goes really. I’m not going to rush it, I’m just looking forward to being able to walk properly and just do normal things first, then slowly get back into racing and hopefully finish off the year strongly.”

The 2022 season marked a standout campaign for Bacon, also victorious in the Australian Four Day Enduro (A4DE) and was part of Team Australia’s third-placed Junior World Trophy Team at the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in France.

His 2023 campaign was off to a great start with victory in E1 during both days of the opening AORC event in Mendooran, and it is understood that ShopYamaha Off-Road Racing will look to field a replacement rider in his absence.

A thumb injury ruled Australia’s Mitch Evans out of Sunday’s motos at the 2023 MXGP World Championship opener in Argentina, with the new Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT) signing opting to focus on a full recovery.

Evans sustained the injury prior to round one, but the factory KX450 rider pushed through to set the 12th fastest lap in timed practice, before Saturday’s qualifying race saw him 17th.

Following warm-up on Sunday, the decision was made between Evans and the Kawasaki Racing Team that he would take no further part in the first round of the season, with an expected recovery time not yet specified.

“Mitch Evans and KRT management decided after morning warm-up that it was better for the Australian to sit out racing rather than risk delaying further his complete recovery from an early-season thumb injury,” a statement from Kawasaki Racing Team read.

KRT team manager Antti Pyrhonen added: “We knew that it would be difficult for Mitch even before we came here, but we gave it a try. His performance in timed training was reasonable with 12th-fastest time, but the pain from his thumb injury was just too much for the intensity of racing on a rough track, so we decided not to risk it more this weekend.”

The next round of the 2023 MXGP World Championship is the MXGP of Sardegna, taking place on 25-26 March at Riola Sardo.