Stevie Bonsey’s Comeback On Hold
Larry Lawrence | March 8, 2017
Photos by Larry Lawrence
Stevie Bonsey, one of the hottest riders in American Flat Track racing when he crashed and suffered a broken neck at the Springfield Mile last May, will miss the start of the 2017 season. Bonsey was making excellent progress in his comeback from his serious injuries last year, but in training he tore an ACL and in addition, has been experiencing numbness in his hands.
“The last two times I rode my neck was giving me complications,” Boney explained. “I had a CAT scan last week and I’m going in Thursday to talk about it. I go to sleep at night and wake up with my hands tingling and my fingers are pins and needles and burning, so there’s obviously something going on with the nerves in my neck.
“On top of that, I’ve had knee problems for a while and I was riding and somehow twisted it and tore my ACL. I went to my sports doctor yesterday and unfortunately he said I needed ACL surgery. I could probably race with it like that, but with my neck obviously not being quite ready, I figured I might as well deal with the knee now and be able to come back 100 percent later in the season.”
Bonsey scored two podium finishes and was one of the leading riders in the series last year when he suffered a hard crash at Springfield resulting in a C1 cervical spine fracture. He underwent a long rehab that included wearing a halo to stabilize his neck.
He was set to race Harley-Davidsons in this year’s American Flat Track Championship for the Staten Island Harley-Davidson squad.
Bonsey now plans to make his comeback by mid-season.
“I’ve got more races to win,” Bonsey concluded. “I want to be 100 percent when I come back and be ready to kick butt.