He missed six months at the start of the year with a fractured pelvis and most recently was hit by a car while training three weeks ago which gave him “extensive bone bruising” to his leg.

Bell was on crutches for little over a week, but has returned to training over the last 10 days and while he concedes it is not the ideal lead-in to the event, he could not be better prepared all considering and believes he can still finish right up the top.

"It's luckily only been a hiccup more than anything, it's not ideal, but it's best case scenario coming out this side of it,” Bell said.

"Even with all the hiccups, I'm still in good enough shape to get on the podium I think. You don't try to think about winning races too much until you're in a position to win it.

"I'll definitely be shooting for a podium, you'd be disappointed if you didn't end up on the podium.

"You deal with it as it comes, do I feel the best possible way post-accident? I'd say yes, I'm going in as good as I possibly can be with the cards I've been dealt.

"Everything is looking alright now for the weekend. You learn over the years that you take the good with the bad.”

Bell endorsed the development of the event in Ballarat.

It is now into its third year and Bell said it had significantly improved since the first year and was looking forward to returning.

But he will be hoping for a change in fortunes this year, he was misdirected by a race marshal in 2014 while last year he punctured his tyre when he was leading the race. 

"It was a huge step in the right direction last year, first-year events are always a bit more difficult. (But) last year I don't think you could ask for a better race.

"One of the biggest assets they did was change the run course to three laps of the lake.

“The numbers definitely improved last year and I think the numbers are again up there this year.”