Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

A costly mistake in qualifying saw newly-crowned MX Nationals MX2 champion Egan Mastin’s first Australian Supercross Championship appearance end prematurely on Saturday night at Jimboomba.

After signing with KTM Motocross Racing Team and transferring to a 250 SX-F for supercross, Mastin showed a glimpse of form by qualifying ninth despite the crash that ultimately forced him out.

Mastin circulated to 12th position in the second SX2 heat of the night show in an attempt to continue on, however pain in his sternum and back proved too much to complete his debut AUS Supercross event. He’s now setting his sights on round two next month.

“I was excited to get the day started and start with the new team,” 19-year-old Mastin recalled. “The start of the day was good and I actually felt comfortable, everything was going well and I was happy with the bike. My foot came off in one of the sections during qualifying and I went over the ’bars and hit my head pretty hard.

“It wasn’t my night, but I’m going to take the positives from the start of the day and focus on what’s next from there. I couldn’t ask for a better team to be on, they’re an awesome group of people and we’re already talking about how to make things better, so we’ll be putting the work in over the next two weeks and I’m very excited to keep learning.”

Under the guidance team manager and multiple-time champion Jay Marmont, the supercross rookie Mastin will build his experience over the coming weeks ahead of Bacchus Marsh’s second round in Victoria on Saturday, 14 October.