By Phil Wain
October 1 2005

For the second meeting in succession, John McGuinness was in the wars, as a qualifying tumble meant he was unable to participate in round twelve of the British Superbike Championship, held at Donington Park. A high-speed get off at the infamous Craner Curves section of the GP circuit resulted in a deep flesh wound to his left forearm, and significant damage to his ribs, and the pain was too much for him to continue. It was a disappointing and abrupt end to the weekend for John and the Vitrans Honda team, as they were both looking to score some more series points.

Friday’s free practice session was held in damp conditions, but the weather was perfect throughout qualifying - although problems with the rear suspension, whereby a wrong decision had been made with the settings, meant that time was lost in the opening session. Subsequently, John was languishing in 24th place, almost three seconds off the pace, but the team knew what was required and they were confident of moving up the time sheets in the second and final session.

Sure enough, John had soon shaved a second off his time on the Honda Fireblade to move himself comfortably inside the top twenty, with plenty of time left to climb even higher. However, half way through the session, he went down hard at over 130mph through the Craner Curves, and wore the skin on his left arm right down to the muscles. He also displaced two ribs, and it would be the latter that would keep him out of the race action. John went out in Sunday’s morning warm up but the ribs, which were actually protruding out beneath the skin, meant it wasn’t safe to race, and he reluctantly withdrew from the two 20-lap races.

It was an extremely sore John who commented on Sunday: “What can I say - it’s so disappointing and frustrating, not only for myself but for the whole team, and I feel like I’ve let them all down. I was confident of scoring some points this weekend, but the front tucked under at Craner Curves without warning, and the resulting injuries were just too much for me to be able to race. The series doctors said that I’ll probably need to have a skin graft on my arm but, although that was sore, it wasn’t what kept me out.”

“I must have broken or dislocated a couple of ribs in the fall, as they’re sticking out of the left side of my chest and, although I tried and wanted to ride, morning warm-up proved that it wasn’t a possibility and we decided to call it a day after four laps. The team have been great and have worked really hard, so it’s shame for everyone, but that’s racing and hopefully we’ll have better fortune at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time.

Although the final round of the British Superbike Championship, at Brands Hatch, isn’t until Sunday 9th of October, John faces a race against time to be fit for the annual Stars at Darley meeting this weekend - where he is due to line up on the Hawk Kawasaki. However, being the reigning champion, you can be sure that John will grit his teeth and line up on the grid at the Derbyshire circuit, eager to take the title once more.