Penrite Honda Racing's Brett Metcalfe is cleared to race at round 1 of the MX Nationals this weekend after six weeks ago fracturing his back during a testing incident in Melbourne, Victoria.
“It’s great news for us and I’m really pleased to be able to go racing this weekend! Back in February I made an error during testing in Rosebud and had a crash which resulted in a fractured four transverse processes (L1, L2, L3, L4).” Metcalfe said.
It has been a long six weeks off the bike for Metcalfe with time spent on recovery and rehab, after what began as a successful pre-season.“Pre-season training and testing pre-injury was perfect, I flew to America to test with KYB and American Honda for two weeks and I came back feeling well prepared heading into the motocross season,” Metcalfe added.
“Setbacks are not ideal but I am grateful I get to line up this weekend, the team and I just need to be smart and manage our expectations going into round 1. We need to achieve as many points as possible, it’s a long Championship,” Metcalfe concluded.
Penrite Honda Racing finished 2018 strongly with 1st and 2nd in the Australian Supercross Championship and team director Yarrive Konsky is impressed with Metcalfe’s determination to carry last year’s momentum into the Motocross season.
“It’s a massive achievement for Brett to line up; it shows how strong and fit he kept himself during the off-season and how focused he is on winning. We are realistic heading into the weekend as we won’t be at our best but we will be there and we are determined to race as hard as we can to achieve the most we can, that’s all we can do,” said Konsky.
The team has made several changes for the 2019 season with a shift to Bridgestone tyres, FMF exhaust systems and KYB. They have also received assistance from HRC.
The opening round of the MX Nationals is this weekend in Appin, New South Wales. For more information go to www.hondamx.com.au or www.mxnationals.com.au