Alessi was on form in Launceston, however bad luck hampered his end result. Image: Sport The Library.

Californian Mike Alessi showed his best form of the season early in the night at last weekend’s Launceston round of the 2010 Monster Energy Super X, Australasian Supercross Championship, but more bad luck and a groin injury spoiled his hopes of a top result in the main event.

Alessi, riding for the JDR Motorex KTM team in Australia, rode through the pain of a groin injury sustained in the Eliminator Challenge to take ninth overall, the world class American taking 9-7-9 results on the night in the main event – the final race determining the overall result.

“I definitely felt good in practice and was able to qualify in fifth,” the controversial 22-year-old commented. “I struggled really bad in the main event with bad starts, but that’s just the way it goes – if you get bad starts the races are short and you can’t make many passes.

“My bike was good and the team has been working well, but I injured my groin early on in the night so I had to tough it out, try to do the best that I could while riding in pain.”

The result moved Alessi up one position to 11th in the series, however he’s not giving up hope of a solid overall result just yet.

“We’re going to keep working, come back in New Zealand and be strong,” Alessi concluded.