TM Racing Australia rider Nick Sutherland stunned with a pair of top 10 finishes at Darwin’s opening round of the Terex Australian Supercross Championship.

Sutherland, 22, broke his collarbone and had it plated just seven days out from rounds one and two of the ASX series, in which he made his debut aboard the MX 250 Fi.

Saturday saw Sutherland race to a remarkable seventh, and then he secured a hard-fought eighth on Sunday. He now sits seventh in the standings after two of six rounds.

“To be honest I feel that my results were not great, but considering I only had my shoulder operated on this time last week the result is good and I leave Darwin not far out of the top five in the championship,” Sutherland said.

“It was tough out there, between the heat and the shoulder it felt like everything was working against me, but overall it was a good weekend.

“I took a little while to get comfortable on the bike, with my crash happening just days after the Coolum 2-Stroke Cup, I did not have any lead-up bike time coming into this weekend.

“I felt better every time I went out and was pretty comfortable by the time the final race of the weekend came around.”

Sutherland will use the month-long layoff to his advantage as he continues recuperating, look forward to the remaining rounds of the season.

“We have a four-week break now, I’ll work out what I need to do in order to heal up and have a week or two off,” he added. “I suffered big time this weekend, I think it was due to not being able to ride or train for the past two weeks.”

Teammate Nyk Geck was 13th on Saturday, before a puncture halted his progress during Sunday’s final main event of the weekend.