Brett McCormick will be at Miller Motorsports this weekend for the latest Superbike round, but he’ll be there only as a spectator, as the Liberty Racing rider is still recovering from his Assen crash where he sustained multiple injuries, including a facture to his C5 vertebrae.
The Canadian in late April, speaking from his hospital bed in Assen had targeted a return in August and that date seems to be still in his sights.
“With a broken neck it’s tough to judge the healing time because every case is so different.
I’ve been getting check-ups every week and I’m healing up really good.
I hope to get the brace off in a couple of weeks from now, and after that hopefully I’ll be able to race within a month.
I could be back by the end of July if everything goes perfectly, but I think August is more realistic.
When I come back as long as physically I am back to normal, I’d like to pick up where I left off and keep working our way towards the front.
In Assen I was getting closer to the top 10, so hopefully I can pick up from there once I’m back.
” McCormick, as many may remember was forced onto astroturf during a damp Race 2, when Carlos Checa overtook him trying to regain positions after having had pitted due to a wrong tire choice.
“I remember pretty much everything until I fell off of the bike in my crash.
I remember turning in and seeing a red and white bike come up the inside just before the apex.
I didn’t hear Carlos coming because that’s a pretty fast section and our bikes sound the same, so I didn’t expect to see anyone pass me there.
I thought we might touch if I stayed turned in so I re adjusted my line, but it’s such a fast corner I ran out of track.
At this point I knew I was in trouble and thought maybe if I made it across the astroturf I could save it, but I wasn’t so lucky,” continued McCormick.
“When I found out I had a broken neck I was fairly freaked out at the start, but it didn’t take long to accept it and realise I was extremely lucky.
As soon as the doctors saw the X-ray of my neck they knew the break was stable, and I wasn’t in risk of having any complications or paralysis, so that made everything a lot less stressful for me.
All I could do was accept the circumstances and start healing.
”Liberty Racing just the other day reached a formal agreement with Infront that they will not have to replace the Canadian for the duration of his rehabilitation, after team owner Mario Bertuccio had stated right from the start that no one would replace McCormick.
“When I read Mario’s statement and talked to him it really hit home with me how amazing the people involved with our team are.
I’ve said from day one that it feels more like a big family than a race team, and this is a perfect example of that.
”
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