Team Shift Motul Suzuki rider Luke Burkhart will return to the saddle of his RM-Z450 for this weekend's third round of the Australian Supercross Championship at Rosedale (VIC), while team-mates Danny Ham and Daryl Hurley remain on the sidelines.
Injured in his opening heat of round two at Avalon Raceway, Burkhart was forced to withdraw from the event, but has bounced back strongly to take second place in last weekend's Auckland Motocross Championship.
"I took a really big knock at Avalon - I hurt my ribs and banged my head pretty hard so I took a few days to recuperate and I'm feeling heaps better," Burkhart said.
"I'm back training as normal and I had a really good run in the Auckland Champs, last weekend; I was riding really well - better than the results show - and I'm looking forward to having a strong run at Rosedale."
Suzuki's Danny Ham has again been ruled out of the Pro Open competition due a damaged AC ligament, despite being determined to make his racing comeback this weekend at Rosedale.
Ham is now aiming to contest the final Supercross round at Wollongong on Saturday 24 March.
Team Shift Motul Suzuki has also confirmed that star racer Daryl Hurley will not enter the remaining two Supercross events due to the knee injury he sustained last season.
Hurley has made an excellent recovery and is preparing intensely for the opening of the 2007 Australian Motocross Championship.
Contesting selected motocross events as a warm up to the Australian titles, Hurley also raced in last weekend's Auckland Motocross Championships, taking a clean sweep of the three 20-minute Pro Open motos to easily claim the win aboard his Suzuki RM-Z450.
In the Pro Lites class, Tim Weigand will continue the charge for Team Shift Motul Suzuki following his first race win aboard the all-Suzuki RM-Z250 at Avalon.
"The RM-Z250 is a brand new bike - the package is already amazing and improving all the time, so I'm confident that Suzuki will have some really strong results form the remaining two Supercross rounds," Tim Weigand said.
At the mid-point of the series, the 2007 Australian Supercross Championship moves to another exciting new circuit in Rosedale (VIC) for round three on Saturday 10 March.
