Round seven of the 2023 Penrite ProMX Championship saw the return of Jayce Cosford in MX2, as the Yamalube Yamaha Racing rider was a solid fifth overall at Queensland Moto Park and is building in the closing stages of the series.

Cosford injured his knee in an incident during moto one at Maitland and was sidelined from rounds five and six as he recovered. Upon return, he qualified eighth fastest at QMP and completed the opening lap of the first moto in P7.

The YZ250F dropped to P8 throughout the middle part of the race before claiming seventh position in the closing stages. In moto two, Cosford was outside of the top 10 on the opening lap but charged his way to an impressive top-five result, taking the checkered flag in fifth to secure P5 on the day.

“I had a bit of time off, just to make sure it was good when I came back,” Cosford said to MotoOnline. “And it was today, like I dabbed it and whatever and it’s fine, so it’s all good now, it’s just getting the body back to where it was, that’s the biggest thing and just getting that racecraft back and getting the laps.

“Today was a good building day, I didn’t want to throw anything away so I just tried to take it steady. First moto I pumped up like crazy and ended up seventh, and the second moto was actually a really good moto for me, one of my best motos of the year. I came back from a really bad start all the way up to fifth.

“I’m pretty happy with that, something to build off and moving into Coolum I’m looking forward to it and still try and fight for my best result of the year, even though I’m coming back from an injury. I know I had more in me before I hurt myself, so I just want to prove that so I can keep doing these rounds.”

Prior to the injury sustained at round four, Cosford was moving in the right direction with a P2 finish in moto one at Albury and he qualified less than 0.5s off first at Maitland. Despite his recent return, the number 754 is determined to end the season at Coolum this weekend with some of his best results.

“I was really starting to build before I hurt myself, and I had a breakthrough ride coming up,” Cosford added. “Unfortunately it wasn’t even my fault, these things happen and it is racing, anything can happen out there.

“I had never done any ligament damage before, never done anything to my knee so I was pretty worried about it, I didn’t know how it was going to turn out.

“The type of injury it was I got pretty lucky with it and I just had to give it its time, rest it and let it heal on its own. Yeah, I’m pretty confident in it now that we won’t have any more troubles with it, which is a big relief and I’m glad to keep moving forward and still aim to get that best result of the year.”