American PJ Larsen, who most recently signed a two-year contract with the JDR Motorsports/Motorex/KTM Team to race the KTM 250 SX-F in both the Australian Motocross Lites and Supercross Lites Series, will temporarily fill in for the injured FMF/KTM Factory rider Tommy Searle at both the San Diego and Anaheim 3 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, events.

“I am excited to come out and race the next two Supercross races for the FMF/KTM Factory Team,” said Larsen. “I have been mainly riding motocross to prepare for the Australian Motocross Lites Championship, but was able to start riding the KTM Supercross track this week and, surprisingly, I feel pretty good. I am looking forward to this weekend and racing the KTM for the first time in the U.S.”

The team welcomes Larsen after Searle’s practice crash suffered at Anaheim 2.

“We were hoping Tommy’s injury would not have kept him out for this length of time. Now that we know more about his injury, we feel it is the right time to bring on a replacement rider for the next two rounds,” commented FMF/KTM Factory Team manager Casey Lytle. “PJ has been working with us for the past couple weeks to prepare for his upcoming season racing for the KTM team in Australia and with a few weeks left in the States we felt this would be a good warm-up for him going into his season and our chance to have a KTM rider up front.”

Although it has been determined that Searle will sit out the San Diego round, it is not yet determined if he will be back for Anaheim 3.

“I was finally able to ride again this week but still feel that my shoulder is too weak and not quite race ready. We will try again next week, and if all goes well, I will be back for Anaheim 3,” explained Searle.