Image: Supplied.

KTM Racing Team’s MX2 contender Nathan Crawford is targeting a return at round five of the 2022 Penrite ProMX Championship at Maitland, set to commence riding next week after breaking his femur in the pre-season.

Crawford made the switch to KTM this year from Serco Yamaha and was enjoying a strong build towards the 2022 series until the crash occurred just a week out from Wonthaggi’s opener.

After undergoing successful surgery shortly after, Crawford began his recovery and by all accounts, the process has been going well as he is nearly set to ride a bike again.

“The recovery is going pretty good, it’s been pretty easy, to be honest,” Crawford explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “When I originally break my leg… if you break a femur it is quite a big injury, and I was concerned about the timeframe and all of that stuff, this was back in the first week or two, not knowing how the recovery would be.

“Honestly, it was so good, my doctor has been unreal throughout the whole thing and I’ve been in the physio a lot, and got back into the gym pretty quickly, I think it was five and a half weeks in the gym doing really light stuff, nothing crazy.

“I’m nine weeks from my surgery now, and I’m due to get back on the bike next week, that will be good to get back on the bike and get my feet wet again. That gives me around four to five weeks to Maitland, and the team have set the goal to try and come back for Maitland and get back behind the gate and do some racing again leading into supercross.”

Maitland’s round five takes place on 26 June, and if Crawford can indeed return at the New South Wales venue he will have the second half of ProMX left to contest before Australian Supercross commences later in the year. Round four of 2022 ProMX takes place at Gillman, South Australia, this Sunday.