Image: Keith Muir.

Kawasaki BCperformance’s Kyle Buckley will sit out this weekend’s Morgan Park round of the 2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli as he recovers from a broken ankle.

Buckley was injured in the topical clash at Hidden Valley involving Daniel Falzon, undergoing surgery and initially targeting a return at his home race in Queensland, but has since opted to skip round five.

“I’d probably be fit to ride, but obviously I didn’t test there and it’s not really feasible to go out there and run 20th,” Buckley told CycleOnline.com.au. “I decided to miss the round and we’ll head down to Sydney on Tuesday to test there and try get back up to speed. I haven’t ridden for six weeks, so jumping into a race wouldn’t be right. We’ll do that test day, feel my way around and hopefully get back to where I was. My ankle is really good at the moment, so it’s looking pretty good.”

The decision of Buckley will see him instead return for a private test at Sydney Motorsport Park on Tuesday, 29 August, and he’s scheduled to resume racing for round six of the ASBK season at the Eastern Creek circuit on 8-10 September.