Well, my visit to the Fracture Clinic yesterday (all 5 hours of it) confirmed what the attending doctor last week had suspected (and I had suspected also). The orthopaedic surgeon had done a half-baked job on the 6th and, while he’d removed the hardware from my knee, he had totally failed to remove the blocking screw from my femur that is stopping the two ends of the bone from meeting and so healing. What really got me ticked off (apart from the wait), was that he didn’t even have the guts to come down to the clinic (he was in the hospital at the time) and apologise in person. Instead he had one of his registrars do it for him. I felt really sorry for Richard as he clearly felt that he was being used to cover for his boss’s incompetence.
So, it’s back into hospital again next Wednesday to have the offending screw removed and then another slow recovery from surgery incisions, anaesthetic and post-operative trauma. To say that I am ticked off is a gross understatement.
In other injury news, Suzuki’s Elena Myers, the 17 year old whizz kid of AMA racing, suffered a setback last weekend when she fell while competing in a supermotard race. Elena has a broken arm and will be sidelined for a few weeks while it heals. This is very disappointing given that her 2 top-ten placings at Daytona in Rd1 of the championship sees her in 2nd place going into the next round at Miller Motorsport Park this weekend. She’ll certainly be missing at least this one.The advantage she has of course is that, being young, she’ll heal faster.
Troy Bayliss set the Italian press into meltdown during the weekend with a comment about how he missed racing and that he could still be competitive. He’s such a tease. Yesterday he set the record straight (again)
“I have said many times I miss racing and winning , and Come backs and come back are different , I will come back for Monza , make some laps on a big Red beast , do some work and PR then I will COME BACK . come back home , ciao TB 21.”
MotoGp Ducati are continuing to test this week at Mugello with both team manager, Vittoriano Guareschi and test rider Franco Battaini doing lots of laps in an attempt to give Rossi and Hayden a “friendlier” bike to ride this weekend at Estoril. Rossi, especially, will need it, having told the Italian press that he will still only be 90% fit.
Insulated, as we have substantially been here in Oz, from the GFC, it’s hard to realise sometimes that, overseas, it is still biting hard. It’s certainly evident in the sales (or lack thereof) of classic cars and bikes as those of you who watch the cable TV shows will know. Well, Bonhams had a sale on the weekend where all sorts of ex-racing exotica was up for grabs, but it was a bit of a damp squib.
While a brace of ex-Carl Fogarty Ducatis, a TT-winning Honda RC30 ridden by the same man and an ex-Haga and Xaus Ducati 999 F03 with works Ducati and Renegade Racing history garnered all the headlines before the sale, on the day it was the more traditional classics that found willing buyers.
While King Carl’s road-going 916SPS Foggy Replica – serial number 002, with only 26 miles on the clock and the registration “S3 FOG” – did find a buyer willing to spend £27,600 on it, the rest of the headliners went unsold. Which is a bit odd, really. It’s not like there wasn’t the money there – a Brough Superior went for £131,300 at the sale, a 1955 Vincent prototype took £107,100 and a 1957 Gilera 500cc GP bike reached £84,000. But bikes of the 80s and 90s didn’t fare so well; even the ex-Foggy, ex-Rutter Ducati 888 North West 200 winner, which carried a reasonably £26,000 estimate, didn’t find a buyer, let alone the gorgeous Honda Britain, double TT-winning Honda RC30 (estimate £50,000-£70,000).
I guess that people don’t mind spending up big on a bike they can USE but are less likely to open the wallet for something that is really only suitable for display.
dunc says
your having a rough trot there phil.
make sure theres no more hardware that they have forgotten about .
the best for this next recovery
Phil Hall says
Yeah, thanks, mate. I sometimes wonder about our health system!