Of all the so-called “stick-and-ball” sports, it’s a known fact that hockey players are the toughest athletes there are. A puck to the teeth, spraying chiclets everywhere, and they don’t even miss a line change. Lacerations are stitched up, often with no novocaine, and the player is back out on the ice in no time. “He’ll play. He’s a hockey player.” is pretty much a mantra in the sport of ice hockey.
Toughest athletes? I respectfully submit to you that motorcycle road racers are at least on par with hockey players.
Take Cam Petersen, for example. The Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing rider has been dealing with right wrist and forearm issues over the past couple of years, and he very recently tore the meniscus in his left knee while jogging with his wife and dog. He had an MRI, but there is no time to trim or remove the meniscus right now without missing the remainder of the season, so he just has to tough it out until after New Jersey Motorsports Park in September.
The left knee injury itself should have been enough to keep Petersen out of the Mid-Ohio round, let alone the chronically painful right wrist, which is now missing four bones that were removed during surgery to repair the injury. Oh, and then there’s the partially missing little finger on his left hand. But, that’s an injury that happened years ago, so it’s a non-factor compared with his more-recent injuries.
Despite all that, there he was on track during Thursday’s Dunlop official test, bum wrist, bum knee, and he was going fast. Coming into the right turn after “Thunder Valley” and before entering Mid-Ohio’s famous “Carousel,” Petersen crashed hard. Add a badly injured right ankle to the other injuries to his appendages.
It was a hard crash,” Petersen said. “But, I wasn’t sure how badly I’d hurt my ankle. I definitely hurt the bike!”
Petersen went to medical, and there was concern that he may have fractured his ankle, which dictated that he take a trip to the hospital for some X-rays. “It was kind of inconclusive, but there might be a hairline fracture,” Petersen added. “It’s sprained, for sure.”
Petersen’s crew rebuilt his bike overnight, and he was back on track on Friday morning for the Steel Commander Superbike class’s first practice of the race weekend.
“I can’t really walk, but I can ride,” Petersen said.
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