Hey Everyone…..
I wanted to post this Blog ASAP so all of you can be in the know of what goes on from here….
Well as you all know John did crash in qualifying today. Twice to be exact.
The session started at 1.50 this afternoon for us and 15 minutes in John did crash, but within minutes he was up and walking….
He came back to the garage with just a little dust on his leathers and no dents to his confidence.
The team has 2 bikes prepped but they always have a specific one allocated before the session, so it‘s prepped exactly how they need it to be. So when John crashed the 1st bike the mechanics hurried to prep the second one for when he came back in.
As soon John was in he was out….. His lap time’s where improving a 10th of a second every lap and the 2nd bike seemed to be doing well.
With 8 or so minutes to go till the end of the session John came back in to the pits to have his qualifying tires put on, so he can put in a decent lap time.
All the boys were so close today, literally a 10th of a second between 5th and 10th.
John came round on his 20th lap and had a good pace., it was the 21st lap that he made the left hander, and in his words “came in way to fast! Was still in fifth gear and went a little far out of my race. I was behind Dovi and pushing, but I just lost the front!”.
He would have easily been in top 6 on the grid if he completed his lap, but bad luck again.
I saw him on the screen just lying in the gravel, and as you all know he is a tough cookie and normally is up walking in seconds, but today he just laid there with all the men around him.
Of course my heart was in my mouth and I was an emotional wreck as I couldn’t see him moving in the first screen shot. His crew chief informed me of where the Medical Centre is situated, so I jumped on the scooter and went there, as I knew that’s the first place they would take him.
Reports came through the Doctor’s radio that John was stable and OK but just experiencing severe pain in his left ankle.
When he arrived in the medical bus , they pulled him out on the stretcher and wheeled him in.
They became extremely serious and refused John of moving anything, With that, John began to sit up and undo his leathers. They became hysterical “NO,NO you must lye down! Your back! Your back!”
John argued back that his neck and back are absolutely fine but he knows his own body and please see to his left ankle as he knew it would be broke!
They took off his boot gently and had us leave the room so they can take some X-RAYS.
The results did show his ankle was broken and he has a hairline fracture In his knee due to compression. Dr Costa was so amazed at the 180mph crash he had experienced, and was astonished that the injury was so small compared to similar incidents in the past. It could have been a lot worse, so on the positive side he was lucky, as he did hit a solid wall!
It is always important to have second opinions when it comes to an athletes Injury so we have made plans for us to fly to San Francisco and see John’s personal Doctor, Dr Ting.
We leave the track this evening after dinner as we have a flight to San Diego tomorrow at 1pm.
This is such a hindrance, but everything does happen for a reason and at least John can have a little time to rest his lower back fully and be prepared 100% mentally and physically….
He will not be competing in Saturdays race here in Assen, and will not be taking part in Sachensring either. We will reevaluate Laguna nearer the time, but John desperately wants to be in full fitness before he can get back on the bike. There are talks of new parts to test in Bruno, so is going to be exciting coming back!!
Thanks to everyone for understanding and we WILL receive some good luck when we get through these difficult times.
Good luck to other riders today, and all the best………
Ashleigh J