Australia’s Caleb Ward logged a career-best finish at Pangkal Pinang’s second round of the 2017 MX2 World Championship despite carrying a knee injury into the Indonesian event.

Aboard his 8Biano Racing Husqvarna, the MX2 rookie overcame both his injury woes and the challenging rain-soaked circuit to claim seventh position in the full-length opening moto of the day.

“I was really happy after the race to get a seventh after a bad run beforehand, the track was really tough but kind of suited me a little bit,” Ward told MotoOnline.com.au. “I was able to get pretty creative with lines and stuff and made my way from 17th at one stage to seventh. A lot of people were getting bogged or crashing so I just tried to ride smart and it ended up working out well.”

Although a positive performance, the Queenslander admits the treacherous conditions were not the ideal situation for his already tender knee on the day.

“I tweaked my knee a tiny bit in moto one but I was in a good position so kept on charging through it,” said Ward. “But in moto two the track was destroyed and I’d say almost 90 percent of the track your feet were off, so it was really sketchy.”

As the rain returned and the track conditions worsened, Ward opted to exit the second moto early before event organisers themselves brought out the red flag with seven minutes remaining in the race.

“I pulled all my tear offs in the first corner then stopped in pit lane for new goggles and then crashed after,” Ward explained. “I was a lap down like two or three laps into the race.

“It wasn’t worth staying out and potentially hurting myself even more, which there was a very high chance of with how bad the conditions were, so I made the decision to stop. I’ll heal up now and try to be really ready and good to at Argentina with some more confidence and keep building.”

Ward finished up the event as the highest-placing Australian in the class with a career-best 12th overall spot on the MX2 results sheet.