It looks like Tim Gajser’s stunning season has come to a premature end after suffering another injury.

The MXGP World champion missed the Motocross des Nations due to pain in his shoulder and hip following a practise crash in the days leading up to the fixture in Maggiora, Italy. Gajser bounced back declaring himself fit for the inaugural Supermotocross Riders’ Cup and this weekend’s Monster Energy Cup.

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Gajser contested the SMX Superpole shootout for Team Honda, taking pole and then romping to a dominant first race win. Team-mate Bobryshev came together with another rider in the opening race and was forced to retire with pain in his wrist. Team Honda’s third rider, Gautier Paulin also took a large rock to the right shoulder on the opening lap, and with Gajser crashing and injuring his shoulder in the second race, the Honda team were in the wars. However, the team bravely pushed on and secured second spot on the podium.

The hard crash suffered by Gajser where he fell on his weakened shoulder has left the champion with no option but to miss the MEC.

It’s not the way Gajser would have wanted to wrap up his season, and it’s no secret he was very keen to race against the best in the World but he wouldn’t want to compete in such an important race half fit. He will now focus on recovery and then getting ready for 2017 with Team HRC.

“I feel so bad that I can’t go to the Monster Energy Cup this year because it’s no secret that I want to race against the best in the world in America and I was really looking forward to it,” said Gajser in a press release. “I showed at the start of SMX that I am fast also in this mix of motocross and supercross and I think it would have been a great battle this weekend in Las Vegas, but there is too much risk with the injury in my shoulder. It was so painful at SMX, and even though we raced in the final race I wasn’t fighting – I was letting people pass when they caught me because I didn’t want to have any contact in my shoulder or push harder and make it worse. I was holding on, and this is no way to go to race something as important as Monster Energy Cup.

“When you are scared of making an injury worse, that’s no way to race, so it was a very hard decision to make but we know it is the right one. So I’m sorry for the fans and the sponsors like Monster and Fox that I can’t race out there, but there is always next year and I think it’s important for everyone that we do it properly with the best chance of winning. It’s been an unbelievable season this year taking the MXGP title, and for that I want to thank everyone with me for all their support. But it’s also been a long season so now we need to take some time and make sure we go into 2017 stronger than ever. So I wish everyone the best for racing this weekend and I’ll be watching, and ready to come out there next year and give it my best.”