Hayden Has Surgery, Out Of Action For Miami
Cycle News Staff | September 13, 2012
Y.E.S./Graves Yamaha’s Tommy Hayden will be forced to sit out next weekend’s AMA Daytona SportBike race at Homestead-Miami Speedway after undergoing surgery on Monday to repair the third-degree separation of his right shoulder, the injury coming in Sunday’s race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Hayden flew to Dr. Arthur Ting’s office in Freemont, California, on Sunday night and the following day Ting performed the surgery in which a screw was used to stabilize the damaged shoulder. Ting also found that Hayden had suffered two fractured bones in his right foot from the crash and he was also given a CT scan to determine the severity of his concussion. The scan showed that Hayden hadn’t suffered an intracranial hemorrhaging and the effects of the concussion should subside.
“At the very last second, I saw that something was on the track, but my front wheel was already almost there, so all I could do was hope for the best at that point,” Hayden said of the crash in New Jersey. “The water and dirt caused my rear tire to break loose, and I don’t remember much of what happened after that, but I went down really hard on the top of my head and my right shoulder. I didn’t even know I’d broken bones in my foot till Dr. Ting discovered it.
“It sucks when you crash, and it isn’t your fault. I don’t know if the corner workers didn’t see the water in that corner or not, but hopefully, somebody’s looking into that situation and comes up with a plan so something like that doesn’t happen again. I’d heard that someone ran off the track on the lap before, and there was a bunch of water and dirt that got flung onto the track in that corner. I’m really not sure why no one saw that. Four riders went down in a split-second, and it shouldn’t have happened.”
Hayden is currently fourth in the AMA Daytona SportBike Championship.
Hayden’s teammate Cameron Beaubier was also involved in the incident at NJMP, but he escaped serious injury. Beaubier had won the first of two Daytona SportBike races the day prior in New Jersey. He is currently third in the series point standings.
“Right now, I’m just really sore but, if things don’t improve in a couple of days, I’ll go and get myself checked out,” Beaubier said in a team release issued today. “That was the biggest crash I’ve had so far in my career.”
