Luke George Returns to Racing

All Pro Lites riders in Australia best beware! Their day may be getting a whole lot worse with the news that young gun Kawasaki rider Luke George is making his comeback to racing this weekend. 5 months on since a horrific crash that nearly claimed his life, 2008 MX Lites Champion Luke George is competing on a 2010 Kawasaki KX250F in his first race meeting since the accident, at the Lakes SummerX this Sunday 17 January at Lake Macquarie, NSW.

Fighting to retain his MX Lites crown at the final round of the 2009 Championship at Coolum in August, Luke crashed heavily in the final moto and suffered head injuries that were serious enough to put the Champion in a coma for 5 days. Since waking, Luke’s progress and rehabilitation have been nothing short of miraculous, with Luke going from strength to strength in a very short time, thanks largely to his high level of physical and mental fitness.

Now, just over 5 months since the accident, Luke is not only back on a bike, he’s about to line up at the starting gate and race again. Luke is making sure that he’s not rushing his return to racing though. Luke has received all necessary medical clearances to compete and even delayed his return to riding by 6 weeks after getting the all clear to get back on a bike.

Luke says, “I’ve been waiting for this weekend for 5 months now.”

“It was a big injury that I had and as far as my comeback goes I wanted to do everything right. All the doctors who had anything to do with me are just speechless at the progress I’ve made. But even though doctors told me towards the end of last year that I could get back on a bike I made a personal decision to wait a bit longer. I had nothing to gain and everything to lose by rushing to come back.”

“I’d like to thank everybody who’s supported and helped me for the last 5 months, especially the Brain Injury Unit in Newcastle. I really can’t thank them enough.”

“Everything feels really really good. To tell the truth it feels like I’ve never been off the bike. It all feels just like before. I’m still not planning to set the world on fire when I go out there this weekend but I’m just so happy to be doing what I love.”

“I’m also really excited to be riding the 2010 Kawasaki KX250F this weekend. It’s been feeling great so far and I can’t wait to put it through its paces in a race.”

In 2010 Luke George will compete in the Pro Lites class in the Australian Motocross and Australasian SuperX Championships and he also plans to race in various AMA rounds in the USA as well. Details about Luke’s 2010 team and sponsors are yet to be finalised.

KRT Show Signs of Brilliance at SuperX Opener

Although one rider down, KRT came out firing at the first round of the 2009 Australasian SuperX with Craig Anderson and Luke Arbon showing great speed to take away some very good results, including a Holeshot win at the series opener. (KRT Pro Lites rider Luke George continues to recover, making good progress after a race crash in August.) 

Craig Anderson - Kawasaki

 Pro Open rider Craig Anderson showed good speed on his KX450F to qualify inside the top ten and then take 4^th place in his heat race. Come race time, Craig continued to fire, taking the Holeshot win in the second moto. Craig rode well to finish well inside the top ten in each race going 7-7 to take 8^th place overall in the Championship.

Craig says, “I’m really looking forward to the next round. I’m happy with the KX450F, it feels really good and I’m ready to go for next weekend.”

Nobody would blame Luke Arbon for feeling a load of pressure heading into the first round of SuperX. After the withdrawal of Luke George from the series, 17 year old Arbon was left the sole Kawasaki factory rider in the Pro Lites class in his debut year on both a factory team and in the big leagues. Luke brushed any nerves aside and got off to a great start in his first moto, rocketing out of the gate and fighting his way to 2^nd place on the first lap. A hit from another rider on the 4^th lap saw Luke crashing off the side of a berm, landing heavily with his bike upside down. With the flooded engine taking too long to start Luke withdrew from the race to focus on the second moto.

Again Luke came out firing in the second moto and desperate to make up for lost points after the first race DNF, quickly found himself in 2^nd place on the first lap. After some fantastic racing amongst the country’s best 250 riders, Luke took away a well earned 5^th place for the moto.

Luke says, “I learnt a lot this weekend and it was good to get the first round out of the way. I was really happy with my starts and can hopefully keep that up for the rest of the series. The KX250F was also really good. It was really smooth and was running exactly how I wanted. I’m looking forward to the next round this weekend.”

KRT Manager Brett Whale says, “Ando put in a solid performance amongst the international riders. His results this weekend don’t reflect the speed he was showing and he’ll come back stronger at Geelong. I’m very impressed by Luke’s efforts. To come away with a 5^th at his first SuperX round amongst so many good riders is a great achievement. We’re looking forward to the second round this weekend.”

KRT is now focusing on and is busy preparing for the second round of the 2009 Australasian SuperX being held at Geelong, VIC this Saturday 24 October 2009.