A specialist in Manchester has confirmed that James Toseland will be out of action for at least six weeks after operating on the Double World Superbike Champion’s right wrist last night. The BMW Motorrad Italia rider was rushed into surgery after flying in to Manchester to have the damage assessed following a crash during an official team testing session at Aragon in Spain.

The Yorkshireman’s crash came halfway through the final day of the two-day test and until that point had been an extremely positive exercise for the team. Toseland and the team had been making good progress with the set-up of the BMW Motorrad Italia bike, the weather was good and spirits were high.

The injury is a devastating blow to Toseland, who will now definitely miss at least the next two rounds of the series at Donington Park in the UK and Assen in the Netherlands. He has wires in the wrist that cannot be removed for at least six weeks, but is hopeful of a return to the Italian round at Monza in May.


However, the 30-year-old – who has been plagued by injury-blighted seasons for the last couple of years – has been extremely lucky, thanks to fast medical expertise from a friend. Based on the results of an X-ray in Spain, showing a small fracture, the BMW Motorrad Italia rider had been given the all-clear to ride at Donington Park, but the scan had failed to pick up on the main problem.

“My main priority was being fit enough to race at Donington,” said James, “so I was really pleased when I was told in Spain that I would be ok. But when I got back to the hotel, the pain in my right wrist was unbelievable and, considering that I had a race coming up in a week’s time, I sent the scan on to a specialist I know in Manchester.

“From looking at the scan, he thought I’d be alright, but as he’s a friend, he left a wedding anniversary party to come and check the wrist properly. They took a new X-ray from a different position in Manchester and found that I had badly displaced bones in my wrist. At that point, things were getting critical as there was no blood flow in the wrist, meaning that the bone could die if I wasn’t operated on immediately.

“I had expected him to confirm that everything was alright and give me the all-clear, so it came as a bit of a shock, to be honest. I guess I’ve been lucky, but it’s a massive disappointment from a racing point of view. I’m so sorry to everybody who has continued to support me.”