| Hislop Speaks Out After Crash |
 Steve Hislop's British Superbike title hopes have quite literally been
shattered.
Enjoying one of his richest ever veins of form, the 39 year old Onchan based
Scot suffered a broken right fibula and dislocation of the right ankle, plus
a fractured collarbone, when he crashed at the Rockingham race circuit in
Northamptonshire on Sunday.'I'm sick as the proverbial parrot,' said Steve from his hospital bed in Kettering General on Wednesday evening. 'But at the end of the day what s going to be is going be.' Steve says he is sorry for the MonsterMob team, it's owner Paul Bird and their associated sponsors for the sheer disappointment of what should have been a very marketable winter if they had won the championship. Hislop had been leading the title chase by a 25-point margin going into what was the penultimate round of the series at the brand new circuit. The crash itself was ironic insofar that it was caused when his number one rival John Reynolds missed a gear and Steve clipped the rear wheel of his Red Bull Ducati at more than 130mph. Steve's own MonsterMob Ducati came down and his arm was trapped beneath it as it skidded across the track. His bike struck a foam safety cell in front of a concrete wall surrounding the circuit. The impact lifted the cell off the ground and Steve went straight underneath it into the wall. Hizzy was knocked out in the accident and taken to hospital in Kettering where he underwent surgery on Sunday evening to have the damage to his ankle and leg plated and screwed. John Reynolds went on to win that race, and finish second to former TT winner Michael Rutter in the last. He is now assured of the title when he goes to Donington for the final round next week. There were faint hopes that the injuries could be pinned to allow Steve to ride in the final two races on October 14, but he has now reluctantly had to concede the championship. 'I admit I had serious thoughts of packing up racing altogether on Monday morning, but I'm already quite buoyant again and looking forward to getting back on a bike. 'It shouldn't take as long as last year, when it took ages to mend the nerve damage in my arm. Article Courtesy of IOM Online www.iomonline.co.im
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