New Zealander Out Before Glen Helen

Luke Burkhart was hoping to follow in the footsteps of his New Zealand countryman Ben Townley and make a name for himself here on the AMA circuit. Unfortunately, he suffered a Townley-like setback right before the outset of the 2009 Lucas Oils AMA Pro Motocross Championships.

 

According to the email he sent out over the weelend, "I was out riding at a track called Milestone and had quite a big crash, the end result was a badly broken collarbone. To say that this is a devastating blow to my USA campaign is a major understatement. I landed with one wheel off the side of the downramp of a double and high-sided. I hit the ground super hard and immediately felt the crack in my shoulder. I got up off the ground and knew straight away I was done. I broke my right collarbone bad enough that it is almost out of the skin."

 

Burkhart was set up with Dr. Reiman in Temecula for surgery to plate the collarbone; he hopes to be back riding in four weeks. 
 
"This is a very tough break for me mentally as well as physically but as you all know our sport can be cruel. We will now re-evaluate and look at changing our schedule to do some races a bit later in the championship. To all my sponsors and supporters that have got me to this point I will be doing my best to get back out there doing what I do best."