Bailey Malkiewicz sustained a torn left MCL from the opening lap crash in moto one at Gillman, effectively bringing an end to his MX2 charge at round four of 2022 Penrite ProMX.

The Serco Yamaha rider entered South Australia in fine form after securing his maiden overall victory in the category at Wodonga but unfortunately, his title aspirations suffered a crushing blow with the fall in the first bout.

“First lap during moto one I went to go double, double the section before the pitlane, and my hand come off on the second one which ended up putting me on the ground pretty hard,” Malkiewicz explained to MotoOnline.com.au.

“The bike hit my leg, and I ended up tearing the MCL on my left knee so that is just going to put me off the bike for about two weeks, then I will be back training and riding to be ready for round five.”

Malkiewicz was unable to remount in moto one, and despite a gutsy attempt in the second race was left with a zero points haul from the weekend. Thanks to strong results in the opening three rounds, Malkiewicz remains toward the front of the MX2 standings and is currently fourth, 14 points back from Alex Larwood in second who suffered misfortune of his own in South Australia when his chain snapped in race two.

The MCL tear is not the first knee injury that Malkiewicz has suffered, previously tearing his right ACL in the build-up to last year’s ProMX which effectively ruled him out of MX2 title contention before he headed overseas for a stint with Hutten Metaal Yamaha in EMX250.

Fortunately, the recovery time for an MCL tear is much less, and as he mentioned will be back on a bike in the coming weeks ahead of the fifth round of 2022 ProMX at Maitland, NSW on 26 June.