The penultimate stop of the 2019 Pirelli MX Nationals calendar at Moree has been called early following the opening motos due to the current lack of medical services available in the area.

The opening MX1, MX2 and MXD motos had been contested with a share of incidents throughout, however, local demands in the region have attributed to the overload.

Those circumstances have prompted championship organisers to make the decision of cancelling the remainder of the round in regional New South Wales.

“Unfortunately being out in regional New South Wales this weekend, it’s not a very big hospital and their demand around the community increased today so they have unfortunately run out of beds,” Williams Event Management’s Kevin Williams commented.

“We have an ambulance sitting here, but their ability at the hospital to provide further medical services in the need of an emergency is almost at zero – it could be up to a two or three-hour wait. We’re not prepared to put any competitor’s life at that risk.

“It was a no-brainer because all of the championship races have done one moto, so everybody is leaving here for the rest of the afternoon safe and we’re not got to put anybody’s well-being at risk by not being able to provide the level of services that we expect to have everywhere.”

It’s the second time this season that a round has been cut short, as Appin’s opening event was called following the first motos due to the torrential rain on that occasion.

Australian fan-favourite Hunter Lawrence has revealed a ‘freak accident’ has sidelined him indefinitely in the 2019 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, the Geico Honda ace experiencing a rare engine failure on the face of an up-ramp while training this week.

The Queenslander, who captured a moto victory at Spring Creek last weekend, released a detailed statement of how the incident unfolded, where he ultimately suffered a broken collarbone that will likely require surgery.

“Hey guys, so a freak accident happened yesterday while I was out training and we had something break in the engine at the top of a jump up-ramp and [it] locked up,” Lawrence explained. “By the time I let go of the handlebars I was already lawn darting into the ground.

“My team pulled a part the engine ASAP and what we found was a freak accident and what part broke we normally run for 100 hours and this part only had three hrs on it! So it wasn’t my team’s fault – we are digging to the bottom of it to prevent this happening again.

“Thank you to my team for supporting me in times like this and everyone else who rides this rollercoaster of a sport with me, as of now we are unsure of the time frame I am out for, but [I’m] getting checked up today, most likely surgery is required. [I’m] so sorry guys – I’m speechless.”

Lawrence is currently ranked fourth in the 250MX championship standings as Washougal’s ninth round looms this weekend.

Selecting a false neutral out of the gates in 250MX moto two in Millville’s eighth round of the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship denied Hunter Lawrence the opportunity to challenge for the overall on Saturday.

The Australian delivered a second-career US race victory in moto one, however, the mistake at the very beginning of moto two saw him forced to fight through the pack for sixth position. He was third overall.

Heavy rain all morning at the Spring Creek Motocross Park led to tough track conditions in the first moto, but Lawrence scored a key holeshot and sprinted to the victory. Unfortunately, a mistake off the start prevented him from backing it up in the second moto.

“Yeah, it was pretty sick,” Lawrence exclaimed. “We got a good start, a holeshot and – in a mud race your race can go two ways – obviously you want it to start with a holeshot. I’m pretty stoked on that, the team has been working really hard and continues to work to get an engine package better. I just tried to stay cool when I was up front.

“Second moto, jump out of the gate was pretty good, I just hit a false neutral between second and third off the start so I was way back. It was just stupid, to throw away a chance at the overall just a few feet out of the gate was just a punch in the gut.

“I tried to come back through the pack, but the other boys were on it. We put ourselves in a great position to win, but to watch it go away, it sucks so we’ll come back next weekend with no false neutrals.”

Geico Honda rider Lawrence now sits fourth in the 250MX championship standings following eight of the 12 rounds scheduled, continuing to gain momentum in the latter stages of his rookie campaign in American motocross.

Penrite Honda Racing has signed American Chris Blose to contest the SX2 category in this year’s Australian Supercross Championship, which is set to kick off on 12 October at Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

Blose, who raced for the Victorian-based squad in the closing rounds of the 2017 series, will join three-time defending champion and fellow AMA Supercross contender Justin Brayton, as well as team regular Brett Metcalfe – both who will challenge the premier class.

“2019 was mostly positive for me, I achieved seven top 10 finishes and finished as high as fifth,” said Blose, speaking of his AMA Supercross 250SX West campaign. “I felt strong at most rounds and as the championship went on I got more confident.

“The Honda Australia factory program is a professional and successful team and I am sure we will be competitive. I have raced the current CRF250R and am confident we have a strong package, there are going to be several contenders and I can’t wait for the championship to start.”

Blose is the second American to sign on for the full Australian Supercross Championship after Serco Yamaha announced last week that it would expand to a three-rider line-up with Jacob Hayes.