Australia’s Mitch Evans has his sights set on Motocross of Nations (MXoN) success with Team Australia after avoiding major injury from a heavy fall in race two at Afyonkarahisar.

After finishing second in the qualifying heat, Evans moved into the lead and held P1 for the opening eight laps of race one, before dropping in the second half to finish P12.

During the second moto in Turkey, the Team HRC rider again started strong and was battling for the lead when he crashed heavily, winding himself and ultimately retiring from the race. He finished the day 16th overall and concluded the MXGP season P10 in the points standings.

“It seems like every time I’m making progress, something happens and I lose that work,” Evans explained. “In the first race, it felt great to lead the field for the first half and I was riding really well.

“Unfortunately, I hit a bit of a wall, and I couldn’t maintain that level and I dropped down the standings. Then in race two, I once again got a good start and was battling for the lead, when I hit big bump just before the finish line and crashed.

“Thankfully I am just battered and bruised, so now I just need to have a few days to just relax and recover, before I head to America and try to win the Motocross of Nations with Team Australia.”

The MXGP future of Evans is still unannounced, with the CRF450R rider having an opportunity to showcase his talent on the motocross world stage once more when the prestigious MXoN takes place at RedBud, USA on 24-25 September. He will join the Lawrence brothers Hunter (MX2) and Jett (Open) in Team Australia’s line-up.