Jess Pettis suffers big injury setback and will miss remaining 2021 Supercross rounds
By Andrew Hill on 22nd Jan 21
AMA Supercross Houston Jess Pettis
Jess Pettis will miss the remainder of the 2021 AMA Supercross 250SX Eastern Championship after re-injuring his knee at the opening round in Houston.
Monster Energy Supercross is a dangerous sport, you dont need me to tell you that. Injuries are sadly a common occurrence. All the riders talented and lucky enough to experience it, will at some point in the season suffer an of injury its just a matter of how bad.
Pettis is one of those Supercross competitors that just cant catch a break. Poor choice of words I know.
I tell you this 23-year-old Canadian professional motocrosser must have broken a bunch of mirrors, walked under ladders with abandon and crossed paths with many a black cat all on Friday the 13th.
Until the opening round of the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross in Houston, Pettis hadnt raced an SX round since 2019 where he suffered a broken collarbone, concussion and a partially collapsed lung.
If that wasnt enough, later that year he tore his ACL, which nixed his 2020 Supercross season.
It wasnt all bad, winning the MX2 class in the Canadian outdoor championship was a sweet reward for the pain and hard work he had endured.
Houston was his big return to the US Supercross scene and he had invested heavily, which reportedly included time at the Bakers Factory.
Jess Pettis
Sadly, we didnt get to see the fruits of his hard labour after injuring his knee during Houston 1 qualifying.
After delivering an impressive 11th-place qualifying position in the morning sessions, Pettis found himself in an unfortunate position when he collided with a displaced tuff block and re-tweaked his previously injured knee.
After missing the second round in Houston, the 2020 Canadian MX Tour 250 Pro Champion saw a doctor in Texas this week and made the decision to sit out for the rest of the AMA Supercross Championship while they wait to see the status of his knee.
"Unfortunately, during the first qualifier on Saturday, a hay bale got thrown onto the track in front of me and it caught my foot, re-injuring my bad knee," said Pettis.
"I knew right away something happened that was not good. I tried to keep riding, but I wasnt able to do it.
"After further evaluation, I will miss the rest of the Supercross season, and work to fix my knee. I am extremely disappointed as I worked super hard and felt good coming into this Supercross season."
KTM Red Bull Thor Factory Team Manager, Jean-Sebastien Roy, said in a press release: "Its really disappointing for Jess after seeing how much work he has put in during the off-season. Not being able to show his improvements and perform at the level that he can is hard to swallow. We know Canada has been behind him the whole way and it is unfortunate to see it end this way."
Jess will now start the process of healing up to be ready for the 2021 Canadian National Pro Motocross Tour.
We have our fingers crossed for you, Pettis.
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