After a superb first moto display in which he narrowly missed third position, Shaun was counted out of the second race at Kegums with a broken left hand…
The Grand Prix of Latvia took place on the fast, slightly sandy and very bumpy Kegums circuit for what was round seven of nineteen in 2017 MXGP. Shaun pulled into the ample paddock space with his Wilvo Yamaha team fresh after more – and positive testing work – on the YZ450F. A decent start volleyed the Scot up with the leaders in the first moto on Sunday and he pushed hard to the chequered flag; just failing to relegate Honda’s Evgeny Bobryshev to fourth place by three tenths of a second.
Optimistic of hitting his goal for a top six result in the overall classification Shaun approached the second race with enthusiasm: it swiftly came to a halt with a freak accident.
“I was happy after the first race but during the second I hit a wet patch of sand through the waves after the pitlane and it sent me off the track. I collided with one of the unprotected parts of an electricity stand and smacked my hand on a metal post. I thought I had busted my wrist. We went for scans and checks and I have broken the middle metacarpal but thankfully seem to have not sustained any damage to the wrist or radius. It is an unbelievable way to end the weekend.”
Shaun has a flight to Belgium from Riga first thing Monday morning and is expected to have surgery to repair the fracture with the insertion of a pin and then the expected convalescence period. He is hoping to be back in Grand Prix action as soon as possible but has already iterated his desire to race again when fully fit, having suffered frustration with a similar injury to his right hand last summer.
We will keep everyone posted on when we can see Shaun back racing again!
Xray of Shaun’s hand
