Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

SD3 Husqvarna’s Luke Arbon has ruled out a return to racing during the 2016 Australian Supercross Championship scheduled to commence on 17 September, in Jimboomba, Queensland.

Arbon injured his neck in a practice crash prior to his home round of the MX Nationals at Murray Bridge, which saw the South Australian suffer a clean fracture of his C6 vertebra.

The Husqvarna rider was expected to make a full recovery three months after the incident, although despite his best efforts with rehabilitation, he is yet to begin riding.

“The bone is all fine, I haven’t had any problems with that,” Arbon explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “It’s just the muscle and ligaments that are giving me a little trouble. They don’t really feel that great, so I’m just staying off the bike just to be sure.”

“I’ve ruled out supercross, so I have plenty of time until motocross. The logical thing to do is to sit out this year and ease back into it.”

The 23-year-old confirmed he will remain with the SD3 outfit for 2017, with intentions of stepping up to the premier MX1 category full-time.

“I’ll definitely be back with SD3 next year, we’re currently talking with Husqvarna to see what they’re doing,” he said.

“At this point, I’m looking at racing the MX1 class. I did some local races and rode the 450cc at the start of the year. I felt really good on it, so I think once I get on one full-time I could ride it really well.”

Arbon only contested three rounds prior to his accident, recording two podium finishes at Appin (NSW) and Broadford (VIC).