Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

KTM Motocross Racing Team’s Caleb Ward has been sidelined indefinitely following an ankle injury sustained in the lead up to the US grand prix last weekend.

Ward initially thought he had suffered a sprained ankle after coming up short on a jump, and despite racing the grand prix with the injury, the Queenslander returned home and underwent further evaluation where he was diagnosed with a broken ankle.

“When I hurt my ankle over in the US I thought it was just sprained, but when I got back it never got any better,” Ward explained. “I was going to rest until Friday and then just ride, but Kyle thought it best to go get an MRI. I found out yesterday it has had a fracture in since early last week. It hurt quite a bit on all the jumps at Glen Helen, and now I know why.”

With the harsh nature of supercross, Ward and the KTM Motocross Racing Team elected for him to sit out this weekend’s opening round at Jimboomba in order to prevent any further injuries.

“With Supercross, the whole track is jumps so it’s not worth the risk of damaging it further. It’s not a bad injury at the moment, so it’s not worth the risk of going out and casing a jump or something and making it into a bad injury that will affect me for a lot longer,” he added.

This will mark the second consecutive year that the 19-year-old has been unable to complete an Australian supercross season after a concussion in the early rounds of 2015 forced him out of the series. Ward is expecting to seek out a rehab plan early next week, although his return to racing is yet to be determined.