WSBK stars continue along road to full recovery
Former double champion Toseland was trying to ride despite only having pins removed from his injured right hand a matter of days before practice started at Monza. It proved simply impossible for him to move his wrist far enough, or to have enough strength in his wrist to take on the heavy braking and frequent chicanes at Monza.
His surgeon had said he was unlikely to ride at Monza, but as James said, "When he took the pins out he was so pleased that my recovery had been so good that he did a U-turn and said, "go there and have a go, and do not take any painkillers, and if it hurts then stop. It was obviously uncomfortable and after the first day of practice I felt little electric shocks in the wrist in the evening. I called my surgeon and I asked him if he was telling me to stop racing and he said, ‘yes'. So I called my team manager at 8am on Saturday morning and my team have been very understanding."
Vermeulen was particularly unlucky at Monza as his long term right knee injury was hugely improved and he was building up speed in the first session when he highsided and suffered a deep cut in his left elbow. His machine was laying on top of his trapped arm as he slid to a halt, causing an unusual and eventually significant injury. Vermeulen's arm swelled up, and surgical stitched burst each time he tried to use his arm thereafter, and a decision was made for him to miss the Monza race.
Said Chris, "My elbow is the only problem, even though the rest of me is a bit sore after my Friday fall. They say the gash in my elbow needs about six stitches in it and the elbow has swollen up a lot inside. I have been having it drained of fluid a couple of times a day. They say there is nothing majorly wrong with my elbow and it was only a problem because it got stuck under the bike when I crashed."
