HRC’s Chihiro Notsuka will be out of action for around six months after crashing and crashed fracturing his back and dislocating his hip during the second MX2 race at the Argentina MXGP.

Following the accident, Notsuka was taken to Buenos Aires hospital where he underwent an operation on his C6 and C7 which was plated.

With his hip dislocation, there were bone fragments found floating around the injury so whilst under anaesthetic, these fragments were also removed.

Notsuka is now back in Japan and has been checked over by a Japanese specialist. It is reported that the work carried out in Argentina was of a very high standard.

The prognosis for Notuska is that he can potentially be out for six months or more whilst the vertebrae fully heal. His hip requires another couple of weeks to heal before he can resume light training.  He will remain in a neck brace for the next few weeks before he starts his physio back to recovery.

HRC manager Roger Harvey said: “Good news that Chihiro has had successful surgery but obviously, we are disappointed that he will be out for some time, especially after achieving his first championship points in Argentina. This is some of the difficulties we experience in motocross. We now wait for him to recover which will give him time to reflect on what he needs to do to achieve the level he was targeting. We look forward to getting him back on the CRF250RW as soon as possible.”