LEICESTER star Ryan Douglas has been ruled out of next month’s Australian Championship due to an ankle ligament injury.
Douglas, who stages his Testimonial meeting as the 2025 season opener at Beaumont Park on March 22, suffered the problem in a motocross training crash, which will cut short his racing back home this winter.
He said: “I won’t be able to compete in the upcoming meetings in Australia as I need to take a month off to recover.
“Not the news I wanted to share, but I’ll be back and ready to go soon.”
Despite the withdrawal of Douglas, the Watling JCB Lions will still have representation in the four-round Australian series, which gets underway at Gillman on January 3.
Skipper Max Fricke will be looking to take the title for a fourth time after missing out to Rohan Tungate in a controversial final round this year.
Competition is set to be fierce as the line-up also includes Fricke’s GP rivals Jack Holder and Brady Kurtz, along with Chris Holder, Jaimon Lidsey, Josh Pickering and Ben Cook.
The other rounds are at Mildura on January 5, Wodonga on January 8 and Queensland on January 11.
