From the high of winning both the 15-16 open and 16 expert divisions at last year's USABMX Grand Nationals, Jack Davis literally came crashing back down to earth on the weekend.
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The champion Tamworth rider is nursing another broken collarbone following a fall during the semi-final of his junior elite race in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
After returning to racing in May, Davis went on to win silver at the BMX Australia National Championships and represent Australia at the 2019 BMX World Championships in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, where he reached the quarter-finals of the under-19 elite event.
But now he is facing more time off the bike, the injury possibly ending his hopes of racing in the World Cup races in February.
The incident occurred on the first corner of his semi-final.
"He was second or third going into first corner. He wanted to cover his line a little bit and repositioned into the corner and as he's done that the guy in front of him has slowed down," his mother Katrina said.
Resulting in Davis clipping his back tyre.
"He's come down and landed right on the point of shoulder," she said.
"He knew straight away. He said he tried to manual (ride along on the rear wheel only - a 'wheelie' without pedalling essentially) when he got back on the bike and knew it was the same pain as last time."
One of the disappointing things about it, she said, was that the guy he was trying to reposition around had been disqualified out of the game because he illegally moved across the start gate.
He has also been improving with each race and given himself a chance to ride off for the trophy.
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Back home in Australia, Katrina had been watching some of the live stream coverage but wasn't watching at the time of the crash. It was only when messaging husband Paul to see whether Jack was racing yet (she couldn't see where they were up to) that she learnt of the situation.
"Paul said, yes, he's raced, we're at the hospital and he's broken his collarbone," she said.
In a similar position to last time, she said Jack" was surprisingly upbeat about it."
"He's trying to stay positive and thinking these things happen and he's just got to work towards getting better," she said, adding that he recognised that he probably didn't make the right decision.
The injury does though mean he won't be able to attend this weekend's National training camp. After flying back in on Wednesday he was supposed to be heading down to Melbourne on Friday to train alongside the country's best riders.
"Apart from the injury and not racing while he's over there, that's a huge blow to his development," Katrina said.
"You don't get the opportunity to train with every elite rider in the country very often."
It wasn't all negative news, with Davis negotiating a new contract with his sponsor SSquared and getting a new bike.
He does too have the Cycling Australia awards to look forward to on December 16. Davis is a finalist in the Junior BMX Cyclist of the Year, which he said was a huge honor.
