Aussie Michael Byrne marches on in the 2012 American Motocross series. Image: Simon Cudby.

Queenslander Michael Byrne endured a tough weekend during the Budds Creek round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, overcoming a heavy practice crash to claim 14th overall in the 450 Class.

The BTOSports/BBMX Suzuki rider was critical of the track design following his fall, but bounced back to qualify a season-best 13th.

“I actually felt really good first practice,” Byrne told RacerXOnline.com. “I’ve been working on some stuff during the week and it felt like it was paying off. Then they just had a jump that wasn’t really safe. We were kind of clipping the end and then bouncing down.

“I just kind of bounced down and I just bounced a little bit and I landed in some tilled up stuff and it just threw me over the bars into the face of the finish line. The whole problem is that the face is just not big enough.

“They want us to make it a double, so why not make it big enough for us to double down it, not be wide open, bouncing off the top into the face of the finish line? It just got me, so I really hurt my hip and my leg. All day, I was just kind of trying to survive.”

Byrne benefited from a strong start in moto one and rode to 11th, however a crash during moto two almost forced him out of the points in 19th.

“I got a good start [in moto one] and I was just really trying to survive in the motos,” he continued. “I couldn’t lift [my leg] up in the ruts, so I was kind of dragging it – just trying to survive. I held off [Kyle] Chisholm at the end and ended up getting 11th, but it wasn’t that good when I started fifth.

“Second moto I got another good start and I was behind Davi [Millsaps] coming over the step up here and just kind of got roosted by him and I didn’t have a chance to pull a tear off because of the braking bumps there.

“So I just tried to follow him and the rut that he went to had this sharp hook in it. Because I was just following him, I didn’t see it. I just high-sided and started dead last.”

Byrne now sits 14th in the standings as the series approaches the halfway point.