Image: Coshar Photography.

Dylan ‘Dee’ Wilson, the younger brother of 2015 MX Nationals MX2 champion Jay Wilson, has made a return to riding following a serious head injury sustained at Horsham’s opening round of last year’s MX Nationals series.

Wilson, a top contender in the MXD category, was making his way through the pack following a sub-par start to moto two before crashing and taking a hard hit to the head forcing doctors to place the young Queenslander in an induced coma.

“At the first round of the MX Nationals last year, in the second moto I got a pretty awful start apparently and I was just rushing to get to the front,” Wilson told MotoOnline.com.au. “I had a pretty decent crash and hit my head the wrong way and I had to be put into a coma because I was having seizures.

“They took me off the sedation after around four days of being in a coma, but everyone was pretty worried because I didn’t wake up for another three days or so and the doctors at one stage weren’t even sure if I was going to wake up.”

Wilson remained in hospital for a number of weeks before making his way from Melbourne back home to Queensland where he began his lengthy recovery process, fast forward 11 months and he has now been cleared by his specialist to swing a leg back over the bike.

“Nothing could really heal it except for time, once I got out of hospital they got me in contact with rehab people near me and we were working with them every week for a month,” Wilson said. “It was just things like speech therapy, nothing too bad because I was actually going really well when I got out of hospital. So just last week I finally stopped seeing my specialist, she was the one who would give me the all clear to drive and things like that.”

While sidelined with his injury, the 19-year-old kept himself occupied by working alongside his older brother as he battled for the 2015 MX2 championship.

“I was riding and training almost full-time, so I went from doing that every day to just sitting on the couch and not being able to leave the house because I couldn’t do anything by myself,” he said. “It was in the middle of the nationals and Jay was racing, so I was helping him as much as I could. I started pit boarding for him at the practice track and just doing anything I could to get out of the house and help Jay.”

Following almost a year off the bike, Wilson is clearly excited about his return to the track, but he’s taking a smart and mature approach to his riding, ensuring he eases back into it.

“It’s all I’ve done since I was four years old, and to have 11 months off is pretty gnarly – it sucked,” Wilson explained. “So to get back on the bike was awesome. It was kind of hard because all I knew how to do was go fast, and I had to be patient and take my time. After three laps I just really wanted to get into it. But in the first session I had a little tiny crash in a corner and that’s when I realised I do need to take my time.”

Originally planning to never race seriously again following his crash, Wilson admits he began to miss the racing lifestyle and aims to make a return to the professional scene in 2017 if everything goes to plan.

“My first plan when I got out of hospital was to never really race properly again, just get a job and ride for fun,” he added. “But then going to the races so much and seeing how good of a lifestyle I had, it made me miss it. So I think this year I won’t race full on, it’s too late I feel, I don’t have bikes or sponsors and haven’t been training.

“This year is just going to be having fun, I’ll be riding on the weekend and working during the week, but next year I want to have another serious crack at it. Anything can happen in a year though, but for now my goals are set of coming back in 2017.”

Wilson, a former MXD contender at the time of his injury, is expected to return in the MX Nationals MX2 class for 2017.