Australian Motocross Championships leader Todd Waters has had surgery to repair his broken collarbone suffered in an accident at the Townsville round of the Queensland Motocross Championships at the weekend.

KTM rider Waters, who currently leads the nationals in the open class after five of 10 rounds, is now in a race to recover in time to line up for round six at Appin, New South Wales, next weekend.

But Waters feels it is possible for him to be competitive at Appin after experiencing a similar set-back several years ago.

“Three years ago I broke this same collarbone and I wanted to race that next weekend,” Waters said.

“So I went in for an operation on a Monday and I got (surgeon) Steven Andrews to double plate it and I raced five days later on that following Sunday.

“I got through the day and it’s been good ever since, I never noticed it. But I had a big crash at the Queensland titles over the weekend and unfortunately I snapped it at the end of those two plates.

“So Steven Andrews has actually come back from holidays to operate on me, which is just crazy, it’s pretty cool. He’s pulled the other two plates off and he’s put a new plate on that’s a bit bigger so it covers the whole lot.”

Waters currently leads the open class standings by 25 points from Suzuki’s Matt Moss, with Scottish Yamaha rider Billy MacKenzie third, just 18 points further back, and New Zealand MX1 champion Cody Cooper (Suzuki) fourth, another 21 points further adrift.

But one of the biggest threats to Waters at Appin may come from Cooper, with momentum perhaps on his side.

Cooper won the Superpole at the previous round at Conondale and then backed that up with fifth in moto one and a convincing win in moto two, his first of the season, and it was enough to claim the overall round win, elevating Cooper from fifth in the Australian championship after round four to now be fourth overall in the championship standings.

Still not quite at full fitness after the head knock he suffered three weeks earlier, KTM rider Waters won the first moto at Canondale before a mistake in the second saw him fall, recovering to be fourth in the moto and on the day behind Cooper, Moss and MacKenzie.

Cooper has been in hot form recently, easily winning the MX1 races at the fourth annual Battle of the Clubs motocross in Taupo last weekend.

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com