Justin Barcia will return to competition this weekend to ride the final three rounds of the AMA Supercross Championship for Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati, the team announced. Barcia is entered for Philadelphia, Denver and Salt Lake City, and Ducati posted on Instagram, “the wait is over, Bam Bam is back!” He said he is excited to be back and that he had not been on the gate since early January.

Barcia has been sidelined since an opening-lap crash with Malcolm Stewart at Anaheim 1 that produced a concussion and a back injury. Reports differ on the exact back injury; some outlets reported two transverse fractures, while others described a fractured transverse process. He was carted out of Angel Stadium, later walked out of a local hospital, and missed 13 rounds during rehab.

A former two-time 250SX champion, Barcia has logged 180 premier-class Supercross starts, six 450 main event wins and 33 podiums, and he is resuming a bid to reach 200 career 450 main events. Troy Lee Designs framed the short Supercross return as an opportunity to regain seat time, rebuild race rhythm and evaluate the bike and crew ahead of the outdoor season. Barcia will contest the final three Supercross rounds before switching focus to the Pro Motocross season opener on May 30; outlets vary on whether the outdoor campaign begins at Fox Raceway or Pala, California. The team has worked on bike updates and saw improving results after teammate Dylan Ferrandis returned from a thumb injury; Ferrandis sits 11th in the Supercross standings after finishing sixth at Nashville two weeks before the announcement.