Image: Supplied.

Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati Factory Racing’s Justin Barcia escaped major injury during last night’s frightening opening-lap clash at Anaheim 1, the 450SX mainstay revealing that he is ‘extremely beat up’.

Barcia’s debut onboard the Desmo450 MX was off to a promising start after he took third place in his heat race, before a lap-one collision in the main event brought a premature end to his night.

After Malcolm Stewart (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) elected to double the triple, the 33-year-old was left with nowhere to go, landing on Stewart and sending both riders violently tumbling to the ground.

“It was a scary night last night,” Barcia reflected this afternoon. “Practice sessions were tough, then qualifying went better, and then in the main event…[it] wasn’t good. Unfortunately, someone rolled the triple when I was already committed, and that’s about all I remember from there.

“[It] was a tough one – I am happy to say that I was able to walk out of the hospital under my own power, I got extremely lucky, and god was looking after me yesterday. It shows you just how quickly things can change from good to bad.

“I’m extremely beat up… I’ve had some heavy hits throughout my career, but this one is the heaviest of them – I’ve never been so sore in my life. I can’t really move my neck, and my back hurts really bad – that was a big worry for us, but I got away with it well. I only broke a little wing in my back, so no surgery is needed, and my spine is stable.

“I think we’ll know more over the next few days when the soreness calms down, but I appreciate everyone reaching out to me. We’ll recover and get back out there soon.”

No timetable has been outlined for when Barcia will return to racing, while teammate Dylan Ferrandis powered his new Ducati to a ninth-place finish on debut.