As World Superbike prepares to end a three-week hiatus at Monza this weekend, former-champion James Toseland also looks to make a comeback after a testing injury kept him from two race weekends. The Briton broke his wrist whilst testing at Motorland Aragon back in March 18th during a highside that saw him landing on his head and right wrist — as he had joined teammate Ayrton Badovini and the factory Kawasaki team in Spain for testing between the first and second rounds of the Championship.
Though Spanish doctors originally cleared Toseland to race his home round at Donington Park, a specialist in England “found that I had badly displaced bones in my wrist. At that point, things were getting critical as there was no blood flow in the wrist, meaning that the bone could die if I wasn’t operated on immediately,” explained Toseland.
After an emergency operation that put wires in his wrist, Toseland was informed that he would miss the next six weeks of racing, which included the Assen round three weeks ago. Though BMW Motorrad Italia did not replace Toseland for Donington Park, Dutch rider Barry Veneman filled in for him at Assen. There, neither Badovini nor replacement Veneman fared terribly well, with Badovini ninth in the second race and both riders in the bottom five finishing positions in Race 1.
Now, Toseland is “Travelling [sic] to Monza in Italy tomorrow, planning to race this weekend.” He had the wires removed from his wrist on April 27th, noting on Facebook that “the surgeon is really happy with the way it looks.” Toseland added that he was “so relieved.” Andrea Buzzoni, Director of BMW Motorrad Italia, is also relieved and “looking forward to finally have our top rider back on track to improve our performance” at Monza this weekend.
Source: James Toseland (Facebook) & BMW Motorrad Italia
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