Image: Octopi Media.

A collision in the second 450MX moto brought an early end to Dylan Ferrandis’ day at High Point, with the Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati Factory Racing rider revealing he had the wind knocked out of him in the incident.

The former 450MX champion was working his way into the top 10 after a difficult start when he collided with Cornelius Tondel (International Supercross Race Team) during the opening third of the moto.

Ferrandis was unable to continue following the incident, later citing soreness from both an earlier qualifying crash and the race-two impact.

“I messed up in the second corner [of moto two] and lost a lot of positions, then collided with another rider and had a big crash,” reflected Ferrandis. “I got the wind knocked out of me, and by that time, I was feeling the effects from not only my first crash but that big second crash, and we called it a day early.

“It’s a tough sport – we all know it – but we’re going to recover over the weekend off and come back [to the] next race ready.”

In its maiden Pro Motocross campaign, the factory Ducati outfit continues to develop its Desmo 450MX package, with the 32-year-old searching for greater comfort throughout the Pennsylvania round.

“I pushed the team to try some suspension changes to try to improve the bike,” he continued. “We did some changes in between practices, and it was better. I felt comfortable in practice two, but the changes we made for moto one ended up not being positive and I was really struggling.

“For moto two, we went back to the setup from practice, and I was actually feeling very comfortable.”

Ferrandis is eighth in the standings after four rounds, with his best result of the season being P4 at Hangtown. Teammate Justin Barcia missed the High Point National through injury, with the championship set to resume at RedBud on July 4 following a weekend off.