Image: Russell Colvin.

Triple Australian Off-Road Champion Jess Gardiner put in a brave performance at last weekend’s 2016 opener at Kilkivan, happy to finish both days just a fortnight after undergoing surgery on her left collarbone.

Gardiner, who turned 23 yesterday, finished fourth in round one and second in round two, which sees her sitting in third place in the championship. That strong points haul was worth the rushed return to racing.

“My goal this weekend was to finish both rounds and hopefully bag a few good points,” Gardiner told MotoOnline.com.au. She initially broke her collarbone while training overseas in France on a motocross track, then after eight weeks of recovery she re-broke it again while easing back into riding at Pacific Park.

After breaking her collarbone twice, it saw her getting one centimetre of her collarbone removed, also known as a Mumford procedure. It allowed he to make the opening rounds in Queensland, back on board Yamaha machinery for 2016.

“I shouldn’t really be back on a bike yet,” Gardiner added. “However between my surgeon and my physio we managed to get it done, so I’m really happy with the results this weekend. From here I’ll just start to work on getting strength back into my collarbone, so I can push a little bit harder at the remaining rounds in the season. I was very cautious this weekend.”

The opening two rounds was also the first time that Gardiner was back aboard a Yamaha again, since switching brands early this year: “The engine is nice and smooth and it was very easy to become comfortable on. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year on the bike, I believe it will be a strong motorcycle to be on that’s for sure.”