Image: Octopi Media.

The mid-season layoff in Monster Energy Supercross has enabled 450SX rookie Adam Cianciarulo to fully recover from his broken collarbone sustained in Arlington.

Cianciarulo, 23, was injured in Texas during qualifying for round eight and almost returned in time for Indianapolis three weeks later prior to the stoppage.

With Feld Motor Sports piecing together a seven-round schedule in Salt Lake City beginning this Sunday, the high-profile Monster Energy Kawasaki rider will make his anticipated comeback aboard his factory KX450.

“The collarbone’s good. I broke it in two spots and it wasn’t too bad,” Cianciarulo explained. “We got nine screws and a plate – I’m not going to lie, at first it felt a little bit odd, just because I’ve never had metal like that in my body.

“But yeah, I mean it feels completely normal now. Sometimes it gets a little bit sore if I really go after it on the golf course, but beyond that, riding all that stuff, is not bad. I’m glad that the break kind of gave me time to come back at my own pace.

“Actually, when this whole thing happened, I remember I started riding the week before Indianapolis Supercross, the first one they cancelled. I felt pretty good on the bike the first couple of days and I was texting my mechanic back and forth, like ‘I don’t know man, should we do it?’. Luckily the time gave us a little bit more to get ready.”

Cianciarulo will be in search of his first-career premier class victory over the next three weeks, his best results to date being second at both Anaheim 1 and San Diego. He’s currently 10th in the standings after sitting out the past three rounds.