Image: MXN.

Penrite CRF Honda Racing’s Joel Wightman will be forced to the sidelines for the second time in his rookie Motul MX Nationals MX1 season after sustaining multiple injuries during a mid-season race in New South Wales.

While preparing for the Australian motocross series’ return in Nowra this weekend, Wightman took an untimely fall at the Maitland event and suffered multiple injuries in the process which will see him sidelined indefinitely.

“I was racing the Maitland round of the East Coast MX series here in New South Wales, which was a good lead into Nowra and there were a few fast guys there such as Todd Waters, Kyle Webster and Corey James,” Wightman told MotoOnline.com.au. “In the second moto I made a bit of a mistake as we hadn’t been out on the track for a while and it caught me out.

“I went down pretty hard and I collapsed my lung, fractured a rib and possibly re-fractured my collarbone again. I’m just trying to get all of my films and reports to RACESAFE currently to look at and decide where we go with it, but I’m definitely out for Nowra and probably the next few rounds.”

Still returning to form from an early-season collarbone injury when the Maitland incident took place, the Honda-backed racer plans to take a reserved approach to his recovery during the second half of the season.

“I’m going to try and do what I can to get back as quick as possible, but in saying that, I want to come back 100 percent,” Wightman explained. “I definetly want to be riding and training at 100 percent before I jump back into racing this time.”

With uncertainty surrounding his list of injuries and the recovery process involved, the 21-year-old confirmed his sole focus could switch to an Australian Supercross Championship return.

“I definitely want to make it back for the first supercross round,” he added. “I do want to definitely focus on supercross as my results have been better there in the past, I enjoy doing it and I feel like I can do pretty well.

“That’s definitely the goal to get 100 percent fit and healthy for that, and as far as the rest of the motocross goes, it’s just going to depend on what’s up with my collarbone and what RACESAFE recommend. If I can make it back for a few motocross rounds I will, but like I said, I want to be 100 percent before I come back.”

Wightman’s 2017 injury woes initially began prior to Appin’s second round of the MX Nationals series after sustaining a broken collarbone in a training incident at Ranch MX in New South Wales.