The grand prix comeback of Todd Waters was short-lived at the MXGP of Latvia, crashing out of Saturday’s qualification race and breaking his collarbone on debut with Team HRC.

Waters, 27, was called into the factory team ahead of Kegums, however an over-jump and subsequent incident while running in eighth forced him out of the weekend.

“Well, there is not much to say really,” Waters reflected. “It was my first day back in MXGP and obviously I was a bit nervous in the first two sessions, but in the race I managed to get all the way up to the top-ten and had a good pace.

“I was in eighth place and closing in on Jeremy Seewer, but then I jumped a bit too long on the up-hill double, landed straight into the braking bump and got thrown over the handlebar. Obviously I’m devastated, this is surely not the way I wanted my MXGP return to be, but that’s racing.

“All we can do now is to do whatever is needed to be back on track as soon as possible and as fit as I can. I want to thank the team for their outstanding work, as I was really enjoying riding the bike this afternoon.”

Waters’ injury is unlikely to be the end of his opportunity with Honda, but a return to competition remains uncertain at this point. The MXGP of Germany is scheduled for Teutschenthal this coming weekend between 19-20 May.