Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

The KTM Motocross Racing Team has been sidelined for this weekend at the Monster Energy AUS-X Open after SX2 contender Egan Mastin suffered concussion on Thursday while practicing.

With Kirk Gibbs on a motocross-only deal and Luke Styke sidelined with a back injury, the factory team elected to sign Mastin – who’s on board for 2018 – to contest the SX2 division of the Australian Supercross Championship.

However with Mastin’s late withdrawal due to the incident, it’s forced the powerhouse squad not have an entry at what is the biggest event of the year domestically here in Australia.

“I had a crash yesterday and knocked myself out for a little bit, it was pretty unfortunate,” Mastin told MotoOnline.com.au. “I went down and saw a doctor, they said I wasn’t allowed to ride for a few days due to the concussion, so unfortunately this weekend I can’t race. I’ll have to go back and see the doctor next Thursday to get reassessed – [Jimboomba] is still up in the air at this stage.”

The 2017 Australian MX2 champion sits 13th in the standings despite not completing the opening round, while this latest blow adds to what has been a difficult rookie supercross campaign on the 250 SX-F.

KTM Australia’s presence at the event will still be expansive however, officially supporting the Raceline Pirelli KTM SX2 team and also conducting the KTM Junior Supercross Challenge (KJSC) for the first time in Australia this weekend.