Image: Simon Cudby.

Australia’s Lawson Bopping has been an impressive addition to the 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, mixing it up with the world’s best during the first six rounds of racing.

After qualifying for four of the six main events, receiving a large amount of live TV time and media attention throughout the industry, the New South Wales rider is set to pack his bags and head home this week.

Although he hit hurdles along the way, reflecting on his overall experience, Bopping is beaming with positivity after previous year’s attempts in the US saw him fail to qualify for a single main event.

“I’ve loved it, it’s been great,” Bopping told MotoOnline.com.au. “San Diego hasn’t been real good for me both times we’ve been there, but every other round has been great.

“My mechanic from back home got here just before Anaheim 2, so that was a big help. He worked on my bike quite a lot and made it a lot better, things were a bit funky there for a bit, but once he came over for three rounds I felt confident.”

Bopping earned his season-best finish of a 16th place at round five of the championship in Phoenix, but it wasn’t easy as he faced plenty of adversity along the way.

“It was an up and down night, in practice I ended up crashing and popping my shoulder out,” said Bopping. “Luckily we got it back in and it was all good for the night show and I raced with it and ended up getting my best result, so that was cool.”

Leading into Bopping’s sixth and final scheduled round on his 2016 US trip, the shoulder injury hindered his mid-week schedule before horrible first corner luck saw him miss out on a spot in the main event.

“All week after that was pretty tough, I was getting physio and couldn’t ride all week,” he explained. “So I kind of struggled in San Diego with not much strength in my shoulder, I got a shot before the night show and it felt a lot better. Going into the night show I was feeling good and then it was just one of those nights when everything was against me.

“As bad as my night was in San Diego, it was still awesome, the track was fun and the team that’s been helping me out for the last couple of rounds, Team SKVI Moto XXX, those guys have been awesome.”

Bopping is scheduled to touch down in Australia this Saturday to begin his 2016 MX Nationals preparations.