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It was a bruising way to open the 2023 World Supercross Championship (WSX) in Birmingham for Matt Moss, the ClubMX Yamaha signing crashing out of the second main event in what was his WSX class debut.

Moss, 35, had pulled his quad muscle in warm-up, but despite the injury, still managed to finish third in heat two and advancing through to superpole and going P6.

After finishing 11th in the first of three finals in the main event, Moss crashed out at the start of the second race, which ultimately spelt the end of his evening in the WSX British Grand Prix.

“Going into Birmingham I was feeling really good,” Moss told MotoOnline. “Unfortunately, I pulled my quad muscle in the first practice. I didn’t crash, I just cross-rutted and it pulled my leg off the bike. It’s gradually just gotten worse and worse since then.

“I was in so much pain heading into the races, I was actually almost in tears on the line for the first race… We kept it between the team. Between the medical staff and the team, they nearly weren’t going to let me race, but I convinced them to let me get out there.

“I struggled pretty bad in race one, then went down pretty hard off the start of race two and Josh Hill ended up running over me and I hit my head a little bit, so the smartest decision was to not race and try and get checked out.

“I’m devastated in the result, but I feel like with three months off now, I can work on the things I need to work on. So we’ll get healed up and get back to work. I’m looking forward to that because I feel like we have a lot to show. We had a good five or six weeks in the lead-up and I’m feeling good on this bike.”

As a result of his finish at the opening round, Moss sits 18th in the WSX standings as the series now heads into a three-month break, with round two set to take place in Singapore on 30 September.