Image: Jeff Crow.

KTM Motocross Racing Team’s Kirk Gibbs continues to recover from a broken knuckle sustained in the Monster Energy MX Nationals pre-season, yet to gain complete fitness.

Gibbs sustained the injury during the final round of the New Zealand motocross series, battling through Broadford’s MXN opener a week later to the podium despite ongoing pain from the injury.

Entering this weekend’s Appin round, the South Australian will again come in under an injury cloud despite recent improvements.

“My hand is pretty good, it’s not 100 percent and it’s still a little swollen, so it’s going to be a little bit of an ongoing process but I definitely feel a lot better than I did going into Broadford,” said Gibbs.

“I did the Sunny State round on Sunday to just try and keep in race mode and keep the intensity happening, because there’s nothing else like lining up behind the gate with a bunch of other guys.

“The track got really rough and it was a hot day too, so it was good for fitness. The hand held up fine and through the weeks I’ve been just trying to stay off it as much as possible.”

Gibbs finished third at Appin during last year’s series, in what was his rookie MX1 campaign.

“I did really well at Appin last year, but I know I’m still not a hundred percent so I can’t expect to just go out there and blow everyone away,” he commented.

“Starts are very key there, so if I can pull some good ones I can’t see why I can’t do well, but having said that, I want to be in the hunt for a championship and that means coming away with good, solid points.”

Gibbs remains the lone KTM factory rider in the MX1 ranks this weekend while teammate Ford Dale continues to recover from an arm injury.