Image: Russell Colvin.

Words: Russell Colvin

Three-time Australian Superbike champion Glenn Allerton has suffered a blow to his 2018 ASBK campaign after he was involved in a motocross training accident yesterday at the Appin motocross track in New South Wales.

Allerton, who racked up his 157th ASBK Superbike race start in the second outing at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway, clipped another rider which saw the 37-year-old endure a heavy fall, suffering a compound fracture to his right collarbone, a broken left hand and fracturing two vertebrae in his neck.

The New South Welshman confirmed yesterday via social media that he would go under the knife today to have surgery to plate his collarbone, which means he’ll be sidelined for the fifth round of the ASBK series, which takes place at Queensland’s Morgan Park Raceway on the third weekend of August.

However, Next Gen Motorsports team manager Wayne Hepburn confirmed that Allerton is pinning his hopes on a possible return to action at the penultimate round at Winton Motor Raceway, scheduled for the 7-9 September.

Next Gen Motorsports issued an announcement late last night, stating: “Glenn is in good spirits at this early stage and is due to have surgery tomorrow. We feel it’s such a shame as he’s been working hard on and off the track. Things as a team have been steadily improving and the most recent round at Darwin was a real confidence boost for us and we believe that a top three was imminent.

“Glenn will unfortunately miss the upcoming round of the Australian Superbikes for round five at Morgan Park Raceway. The season is not over, and we know that Glenn will do everything in his power to get aboard the BMW S 1000 RR. We as a team will throw our support behind Ted Collins and Scott Nicholson for the next round on the 17-19th August.”

Allerton is currently situated seventh in the championship standings with 124 points to his credit.