22-year-old privateer Nick Sutherland could be viewed as a bit of a supercross specialist, but that’s more due to circumstances than anything. The Inverell-born Gold Coaster seems to suffer a spate of bad luck whenever the MX Nationals rolls around, forcing him to watch it all play out from the sidelines.

Take 2013 for example. After an impressive 2012 supercross season where he finished sixth in the Pro Lites on board a KX250F, Sutherland tried his hand at the Indonesian Supercross Championship, but crashed at the first round and tore his ACL.

With that one moment, his upcoming 2013 MX Nationals season became a complete write-off. Adding to the frustration, Nick’s father had previously agreed to help fund his 2013 in order to give him a good crack at both the MX Nationals and Australian Supercross Championship.

“It was a really frustrating time,” Sutherland said. “I wanted to do as many national races as possible, but I spent most of it recovering from a knee injury.”

Image: Grant Reynolds.

Sutherland returned to racing at the final round of the MX Nats at Coolum, where, as TM Racing Australia’s rider, he pipped KTM 2-Stroke Cup champion Errol Willis for the overall.

“I rode really well at Coolum,” he reflected. “I was pumped with my results there, especially considering I had only just got back on the bike.”

But then, during the short turnaround between Coolum and the first round of the Australian Supercross Championship at Darwin, Sutherland broke his collarbone and underwent surgery just six days before the series started.

Still he gritted his teeth to an 8-9 result over the two-race weekend.

“To be honest my results weren’t great, but considering I only had my shoulder operated on less than a week beforehand I was happy,” he continued. “It was tough, between the heat and the shoulder it felt like everything was working against me, but overall it was a good weekend.”

A sixth in the main event at Mt Gambier saw him consolidate his points, but a freakish crash at Phillip Island that led to his bars snapping through the whoops while fighting for a podium spot forced him to DNF.

The bad luck continued the following day when he was caught in a first-turn pile-up and had to claw his way back to eighth in the main.

“I definitely had my fair share of shitty luck last year,” he explained. “The worst one was throwing away a podium at Phillip Island for sure. I hope I’ve got it all out of my system now!”

Image: Grant Reynolds.

A fifth at the final round at Toowoomba saw him finish the series in ninth overall, despite a DNF, and he’s now in the process of sorting out a ride for this year.

“I’m talking to a couple of people, so I’m hopeful something will be confirmed in the next few weeks,” Sutherland said. “Once I have a ride locked away I’ll be able to lock everything else in and start practicing. I haven’t ridden a bike since Toowoomba!”

However, if an offer for a ride doesn’t come off, it’s almost a certainty that Nick won’t be behind the start-gate this year, but will continue to work as a builder in Brisbane.

“If nothing happens, then yeah, I’ll be out for the Nationals, and I’m not even sure if I’ll have a shot at the supercross, especially with Darwin being so hard to get to,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see how it all unfolds.”