Warrnambool's Ted Collins is raring to go for the first round of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Phillip Island at the end of the month.
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The 20-year-old will be riding his Suzuki GSX-R600 for the self-funded JC Motorsports in the supersport 600 class.
The number 29 is on the comeback after a tough period of his career.
"Honestly, I've had 18 months of struggles," he said.
"I had a couple of really big crashes and some health issues from that."
Collins suffered a delayed concussion from his first crash in March 2019 at Wakefield Park in the ASBK.
"That really messed me around a lot more than I ever imagined it would," he said.
"I think I'm still understanding now how that affects me day-to-day.
"It's still not quite back to normal I guess and I've still got to try to work out how and why."
Collins had another crash and hit his head again in round three of the 2019 ASBK.
"That basically was it for the rest of the year, it got a bit serious after that," he said.
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The youngster has been working his way back to racing.
He competed in a round of the South Australian titles at the end of 2019.
It's the longest he's been away from the national circuit since he started his career.
"I'm pretty excited, once we get momentum and get the ball rolling, we'll be right," he said of his return to the ASBK.
Collins last rode in the supersport 600 class three years ago and he won the Australian title in 2017.
He has been racing the more powerful superbikes for the past two years.
The talented rider is aiming to get back in the superbike class.
"The superbike class is the premier class, obviously that's where I want to be," he said.
"At the moment, being our own self-funded team - the supersport 600 class was our only option.
"Obviously, we're still searching for more funding to get us through the year for sponsorship or anything like that."
Collins' girlfriend Tayla Relph will be riding her Yamaha R3300 in the supersport 300 class at the ASBK.
The 23-year-old, who hails from Brisbane, is one of two women who will compete against the men in that class.
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