A broken elbow at the Southern 100 halts Kneen’s progress
Dan crashes out of Southern 100
Dan Kneen’s 2013 season was halted in last week’s Southern 100 road races with
the Manxman suffering a broken elbow after crashing during Wednesday
evening’s Supersport 600cc race. The spill, which occurred at Castletown
Corner, means the 26-year old's frustrating season continues and will once
more leave him on the sidelines for a number of weeks.
Dan Kneen exits Church Bends at the Southern 100. Photo Glynne Lewis
Having
returned successfully from injury at last month’s Isle of Man TT Races, the
Braddan rider had been dialling himself back into racing with some good
results at Donington Park and, keen to make up for lost time, took in both
the Snetterton round of the National Superstock 1000cc Championship and the
Southern 100 last week.
The
Snetterton meeting saw the Suzuki GSXR1000 plagued by a misfire but, after
missing an entire qualifying session as a result, he managed to qualify and
put in a strong ride to move from the back row of the grid to an eventual
23rd place. More importantly, it was
another race under his belt and put him in a good frame of mind heading to
the Southern 100, held on the 4.25-mile Billown course in the south of the
Isle of Man.
Barometer set fair
With
great conditions on the Island, the
week started well for Dan with a superb fifth place in the opening 1000cc
race, and a near 110mph lap, and more of the same looked likely in
Wednesday’s second Superbike encounter. However, just when another top five
finish seemed on the cards, a slight mistake set him back, although he fought back with a
new personal best lap of 109.860mph which took him to eighth at the
chequered flag.
Later
that evening Dan took in the Supersport 600cc race and he was running
comfortably
inside the top six only for cruel luck to intervene on the eighth and final
lap. Exiting the final corner, with just a few hundred yards to the line, Dan
was high-sided off the 600cc GSXR Suzuki landing heavily, with the later
x-rays diagnosing a broken elbow.
Speaking
later a disappointed Dan said;
“It’s been
a really frustrating, stop-start season for me and this injury just adds to
that. After missing the early season meetings, I was getting dialled back in
and the results were slowly improving but we’re down a bit on speed with the
Supersport bike whilst the throttle’s like an on-off switch and I was having
to ride the wheels off it to keep up with the likes of Michael Dunlop. I’d
almost got another decent finish under my belt when it spat me off right at
the very end. I came down heavy on my hands and wrist and thought I may have
broken something there as they were really painful. My elbow wasn’t causing
me any bother and it was only when it started swelling up that I noticed
something was wrong.”
“The x-rays showed it was broken at the end
and, once the swelling had been drained, the doctors plated and screwed it so
now it’s a case of waiting to see how long I’ll be out for. It’s a real
shame as I was quite happy with how the big bike was going and the results
were slowly coming but it just adds to the frustration of 2013. I’ve had a
couple of sessions at the hyperbaric chamber already though and the cast is
due to come off in two weeks time so I’d like to think I’ll be able to make
it in time for the Ulster. Only time will tell but that’s the plan.”
Dan hopes
to be fit in time for next month’s Ulster Grand Prix and has pencilled in the
Dundrod meeting, which gets under way on Wednesday August 14th, for
his return.
Info from a press release by Phil Wain
Dan is sponsored by Marks Bloom and
Wemoto
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