Former Bermagui bike racer Reid Battye has been left with a broken vertebrae after a horror crash over the weekend.
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Reid was run over twice after coming off his bike around turn two at Winton on the weekend in the Supersport 600cc class of the Australian Superbike Championship.
Reid was in good spirits considering his injuries, and said he bore no ill-will with 25 riders close behind during the crash.
"Unfortunately I just highsided myself at the start of the race," Reid shared on his Facebook page.
"With 25 riders behind me I was ran over twice, feeling really lucky to not be further injured."
He had been running third after a good qualifying ahead of the weekend, but is now hoping for a swift recovery and said he was grateful for his helmet protecting his head.
Despite the crash, Reid is still well placed in his first season on the new bike as part of the Suzuki Ecstar Racing team.
The previous 300cc Australian champion had been holding fifth on the competition table after round four and will likely slip to sixth place following the weekend.
Even with zero points Reid is likely to be within strike range of his nearest rivals in Aiden Hayes and Oliver Bayliss.
The young racer will now have almost a month of recovery time ahead of round six which will run at one of his favourite circuits - Phillip Island.
It's the same track where he locked in his 300cc championship in 2017, with Round 6 to run on October 4-6.