Image: Supplied.

Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin saw his championship hopes take a dramatic shunt in Houston, sustaining a shoulder injury that ruled him out of round two over the weekend.

Anaheim 1 winner Musquin debuted the red plate in Texas on Saturday and was third in qualifying, however a heavy crash in his heat race through the whoop section ended the Frenchman’s night.

Nursing his shoulder and unable to start the last chance qualifier, Musquin sat out the main event and dropped to 10th in the standings, now 23 points behind winner Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna).

“After qualifying third today, I went down hard in the whoops in my heat race,” Musquin commented. “I landed on my left shoulder and felt really beat up. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to line up for the rest of night.

“I’m really disappointed about that given the team and I were in a good place after our win last weekend. But I will get checked up as soon as I get home and will know more in the next few days. Supercross is a longer season, so I’m hopeful I will be able to line up in Anaheim 2.”

After riding qualifying and slotting into position 40, pre-season favourite Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki) opted out due to his shoulder injury from the opening round, as did Dean Wilson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) – also with a shoulder injury – after attempting to ride press day.