Shane Watts Injured Again

Kit Palmer | October 14, 2003

During the final round of the AMA National Hare Scrambles Series over the weekend, KTM’s Shane Watts suffered yet another untimely injury. After seemingly getting back on track after a long string of injuries, Watts dislocated his shoulder and will again be laid up for a while.

Watts explains:

“This isn’t the kind of result I wanted or expected from this race,” Watts said. “The course here is kind of sketchy with the hidden rocks in the undergrowth, and the slightly dusty conditions, so I decided before the race just to ride easy today and not take any risks. I was focusing on being 100 percent for the final GNCC Championship race next weekend.

“I totally missed the jump off the start and thus trailed the field into the first turn. From there, I just slowly picked off one rider after another, and, by the start of the last lap, I had moved into third position. I wasn’t pushing myself at all and was feeling very comfortable on the bike, and the pace that I was riding at.” Not far into the final lap of the three-hour race, third-placed Watts tagged a hidden rock on the edge of the track and was subsequently catapulted over the handlebars of his KTM 200EXC machine and driven hard into the ground on his left shoulder region. After regaining his breath and composure Watts was forced to retire from the race at that point.

“My shoulder didn’t feel right,” Watts said. “Part of it didn’t feel like it should have been where it was when I tried to move it, and it was also making some crunching noises.” Examination on Monday by a shoulder specialist revealed a separated shoulder. A CT scan was also taken to try to confirm a possible fractured inferior rim of the gleniod (shoulder socket). The scan results won’t be available for another day.

“This is a major bummer!” Watts added. “Obviously everything was just really starting to come back together for me. It’s hard to say when I’ll be able to race again, whether it’s this weekend at the last round of the Grand National Cross Country Championship or some other stage. After having fought so hard to come back over the last two years from major injury to get back on top of the podium, this shoulder injury is going to be a piece of cake to recover from. However, I will be letting it fully heal before I try to race again.”

Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor

Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.