Etheridge landed heavily on his shoulder after losing control of his bike on the bend before the home straight in the fifth heat of the meeting at Kurri Kurri Speedway Club.

It was the same collarbone Etheridge had previously broken and had a rod in to help it heal.

It's believed that the chain on Etheridge's bike broke leading to the crash, Racing was halted for almost an hour as track officials stripped the surface trying to create a move even surface for racing.

However, the meeting was finally abandoned after hot-lap testing by reigning Australian champion Max Fricke revealed a number of dangerous areas for racing.

Kurri Kurri Speedway Club president Peter Campton said it was extremely disappointing for everyone to abandon the round, but rider safety was paramount.

"We've done everything we can to get the track up, but in the end the heat beat us. We can't risk the boys," he said.

Racing had already been set back an hour because of safety concerns for riders and fans in the 40-plus temperatures which prevailed up to 8pm and only marginally dropped to 36 degrees by 10pm

The fierce heat during the day had hampered efforts by the track crew to get the track fit for racing. Water was soaked up at varying degrees leaving some spots spongy and other slick creating dangerous conditions for racing.

Speaking after riders and officials agreed to abandon the meeting, Fricke said that unfortunately in trying to fix the track after Etheridge's crash the surface had been made more dangerous.

"It's unfortunate, you never really want to be the guy to give bad news but unfortunately after they tried to fix the track in doing so they've dug up some of the old material and there was a lot of edges and stuff in the track," Fricke said.

"As an individual you could go around and ride it and it would probably look pretty decent but to go around and expect to race on that with three other guys at different levels in our careers is another case.

"We have guys who do this as a living and we have other guys who are aspiring to do the same but are not quite at that level yet.

"It just puts everyone in a lot of danger in the first corners and tight situations when you can't really control your bike properly.

"It's unfortunate that of over he course of the night that Jye has been injured. I believe his chain broke which kind of led to that but it's a shame to see anyone hurt.

"I'm sure he'll come back stronger for the season in a couple of months, but we wish him all the best and just hope he is not feeling to banged up."

The four heats completed on Saturday night gave fans a glimpse of just how tight and exciting action promises to be over the remaining four-legs starting in Albury on Monday night.

In the opening heat reigning champion Fricke got the better of 2018 champion Rohan Tungate.

Mildura's Jaimon Lidsey defeated former Aussie champions Brady Kurtz and Newcastle's Sam Masters in heat 2.

Heat four saw NSW champion Jack Holder continue his outstanding season by beating older brother and former world and five-time Australian champion Chris.

But the performance of the nigh was from Heddon-Greta's Josh Pickering who sizzled to a time of 59.9 seconds, just 0.03 seconds outside former world champion Jason Crump's 2010 track record at Kurri Kurri.

"It was the right call to abandon the meeting, but it's disappointing not only for the paying customers but for us as we've put in a lot of effort," Pickering said.

"We were ready to go as riders but it was just a shame the track just wasn't safe for us."