KTM Australia's Ford Dale out for Taupo Ford Dale. Photo - Damien Ashenhurst An unfortunate practice accident has left KTM Motocross Racing Team rider Ford Dale devastated to miss the start of this year's Monster Energy MX Nationals which takes place on March 30. On the back end of a successful build-up to this year's MX Nats, Dale was emerging as a genuine title prospect after four tough races in New Zealand, and was practising last weekend in Caloundra when the accident occurred. Dale crashed heavily over a jump suffering facial lacerations and a broken left arm which is likely to keep him out of at least the first four rounds of the motocross championship. Once the threat of infection has diminished, the Queenslander hopes to go under the knife next week to have the break plated. The popular former Australian MX2 Champ, who spent much of last year sidelined with a knee injury, is justifiably shattered, but is trying to keep positive. The KTM Motocross Racing Team has elected not to source a fill-in rider for Dale's KTM 450 SX-F during his absence, but will instead direct all its resources solely behind the campaign of Kirk Gibbs, who finished fifth in last year's MX1 championship at his first attempt. Rob Twyerould - KTM Motocross Racing Team Manager: "Ford was 27 minutes into a 30-minute moto when he hit a puddle that
he’d been riding through, and must have hit it just millimetres
different and the tyre slipped and it threw his weight forward as he
went off the jump. He went over the handlebars and landed on all fours
and on his face which he cut up quite badly. He broke his radius above
the plate that was already in there. It was a big impact, and the bone
almost broke the skin. He has a lot of lacerations so there's a worry
about infection for now, but he’s hoping to have surgery Thursday
to remove the existing plate and replace that with a new one. He'll be
out of action for a minimum of eight weeks which means he'll miss the
start of the Australian National season and probably come in at Wanneroo. We’ll
assess at that point whether it's worth doing that or just making a
plan to bring him back strong for the final five rounds. The nice thing
is that there are a few triple moto rounds in there to provide good
point-scoring opportunities, so he can go in there with a
nothing-to-lose attitude and go for round wins. For
all of us in the team its devastating as it is for him, and in his lead
up he was riding very well. We’d just finished testing and his bike was
very close to spot on, so we're very disappointed for him. We’re not
going to put anyone else on his bike, we'll just give Kirk our 100%
support and give him the best chance to perform in the Nats. Ford Dale:
"Physically I'm still a little sore, but I'm not doing much to
aggravate it. Mentally though, Ford's Instagram pic |
I’m gutted. I've been working my butt off
and everything has been going to plan, but just a little mistake means
I’m out of the first few rounds of the motocross Championships which is a
massive blow because it was my goal to win this year. It's tough and I
guess I'll be moping around a bit for a couple of weeks but it could
have been a lot worse and in fact I look a lot worse than I feel.