Western Australian Kyle Webster has overcome the scare of a broken back sustained in last year’s Australian Supercross Championship to return to riding and set his sights on a strong 2018 MX Nationals campaign.

The 21-year-old was seriously injured at Bacchus Marsh last October, putting a premature end to his season with fractures to multiple vertebrae. He underwent surgery soon afterwards and has been back aboard the bike during the last fortnight following an intensive rehabilitation program.

“It’s been really good so far and I haven’t had any dramas in regards to my back,” Webster told MotoOnline.com.au. “That’s been a massive positive. I was partially expecting to have at least some sort of pain or discomfort, but it’s been really good. I’ve just been taking it a bit easy, doing some riding and then having a couple of days off, so I haven’t been doing anything too crazy just yet.

“In the next couple of weeks it will start to get more serious and we’ll look toward the first round of the nationals. I started rehab and training to get moving about six weeks after I had surgery, then it sort of felt like once I started doing that and moving again, everything started to heal so much faster. We’ve been working hard to get back onto my feet again and it’s good to have the rehab side of things become a little bit more full-on, working with Paul Haines and also Stephen Gall.”

Webster established himself as one of the MX2 class’ quickest in last year’s MX Nationals series, featuring among the front-runners on multiple occasions in the back-half of the season and finishing fifth in the final standings. He capped off the outdoor season by qualifying first and claiming third overall at Coolum’s finals in an impressive performance.

This year he will be teamed with reigning Australian SX2 champion Jackson Richardson aboard the new-generation CRF250R, as the Penrite CRF Honda Racing team continues to gain strength under the ownership of Mark Luksich. It will be an important season ahead as Honda looks to Webster and Richardson to deliver on-track success with the 2018 model.

“The team’s definitely getting bigger and better, which is awesome,” Webster added. “I’m glad to be back riding with the same team again and Jackson is a good guy to have on the team – he’s also thrilled about it as well, so we’re definitely looking forward to the season.”