Northern Ireland road racer Michael Pearson has been badly injured in a crash at the Horice road races in the Czech Republic on Sunday.

The 37-year-old from Ballygowan was airlifted to hospital after the incident, which occurred at the start of the Superbike race.

Pearson has been a regular at the event in recent years and had earlier won the Supersport 600 race.

A former Irish Superbike champion, Pearson suffered a number of injuries in the crash including a back injury and internal bleeding.

His wife and father are with him at the hospital.

Willis Marshall, who looks after Pearson’s PR, told the News Letter:

“We’ve just left the hospital and Michael has a bad back injury and internal bleeding. It’s serious and he was airlifted to hospital. His wife and father are with him at the minute.

“Michael had been on pole for the Superbike race and at the first corner a rider went down and took Michael with him, and he slid into the trees.

“There had been a shower of rain shortly before the rain and the road may have been a bit greasy,” he added.

“We’re just waiting on more information and hoping that he will be okay".



by Kyle White
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