British Champion Tommy Searle is continuing to make progress from the knee surgery and period of rehabilitation that has kept the Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki rider absent from the start of the 2017 FIM Motocross World Championship. The 26 year old is expected to climb aboard the KX450F in the next two weeks and for the first time since he sustained left ACL damage in December.

“It should be a couple more weeks and then I’ll be ready to go,” #100 said. “I cannot see myself being ready for the first two rounds in Europe so I guess it will be the one after that which is Latvia.”

The three-times world championship runner-up suffered the injury while training in the United States and underwent immediate surgery to minimise the downtime away from the bike. With his recovery progressing satisfactorily Searle only needs to regain sharpness for his second term with the DRT KX and consider some 2017 settings before looking at a provisional Grand Prix return at Kegums in early May. He will most likely miss rounds in Italy and Holland once MXGP returns from the trip to Mexico next week.

“I’ve been off the bike for four months so I’ll need at least three-four weeks to get back into it,” he said. Searle, who has competed for both Kawasaki and KTM in the premier class since his switch in 2013, is still hunting his first piece of MXGP silverware and showed signs of promise in 2016 after a torrid and injury-plagued term in ’15.

Photos by Ray Archer