Roger Lee

[dwoodward]

Originally Posted by yooperbikemike

That's called the "Troy Bayliss" solution.

At the time, it sounded like Bayliss was trying to get someone to cut the offending digit off right there, so he could make the second race.

Roger Lee's finger is the primary medical concern, but I suspect the broken pelvis is going to be the limiting factor and what keeps him off the bike. Given that, if they can save the finger, why not?

[UngaWunga]

Originally Posted by dwoodward

Meanwhile, from the RRW article:

Pietri admitted to hitting Hayden from behind, explaining that Hayden slowed down a lot more in the turn than he expected. Pietri was very apologetic.

It's starting to sound more like an unfortunately painful racing incident than exceptional dumbf**kery.

while it's the responsibility of the passing rider to do so safely, you shouldn't be doing slow laps on the racing line. Practice or qualifying, you shouldn't be doing slow laps. When you're out there putting around, you're putting others in danger when they have to get around you.

[HarveyMushman]

Originally Posted by Beez

Why do they let Superstock riders practice during Superbike qualifying? Especially when they aren't even entered in the Superbike race?

... oh yeah, it's the AMA.

Actually, the report that Pietri was riding a Superstock bike in Superbike qualifying only for the extra track time was incorrect. Pietri was entered in Superbike and was intending to race both Superbike races in addition to the Superstock race.

Running a Superstock bike in the Superbike class is not necessarily a problem, depending on the rider and team. Some of the 'stock bikes and riders are quite fast. Jake Holden's 'stock pole time--on a CBR1000RR--was faster than Miguel Duhamel managed on his Superbike CBR. Holden's time would have been good enough for 8th on the Superbike grid. Pietri and the RoadracingWorld.com team are competent and fast, definitely not mere grid-fillers.

[Beez]

Thanks for the clarification HM.

[Monkey_Boy]

Originally Posted by HarveyMushman

...Pietri and the RoadracingWorld.com team are competent and fast, definitely not mere grid-fillers.

Indeed. And, if RL did park it, then while technically Pietri is to blame, RL certainly put himself in harm's way. In traffic court, the share of liability would probably be Pietri 74%, RL 25%, and 1% George Bush

Hey, he's young. His breaks will be healed in 3 weeks, then it's about pain management and getting back in shape. Hope he makes the wildcard ride at Laguna!

[yooperbikemike]

Roger Lee Hayden Update
By Henny Ray Abrams

The Healing Process

4/23/2008

Monster Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden had a small procedure on the left hand that was damaged in a crash during Superbike qualifying last Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park, and expects to have a more significant operation on Thursday, according to a senior Kawasaki official.

Doctors at the Jewish Hospital and St. Mary’s HealthCare in Louisville, Kentucky took out the original stitches and cleaned the wound on the little finger of the left hand, and addressed a budding infection, Kawasaki road race manager Mike Preston said. Hayden was given antibiotics for the infection.

“They’ll take him in for surgery tomorrow,” Preston said. “See what they can do, if they can repair the finger. For sure it’s badly damaged. The bone, where it broke at the joint in that area, it was ground down pretty bad. Probably nipping the end of the finger off is a realistic possibility. I’m not a doctor. Until they get in there, the doctors, we don’t know.”

Doctors said there was “still some grass and dirt and ground up glove” in the wound. “I would assume if it turns out they have to amputate part of it, I would assume that would probably be the end of the operations. If they can salvage any of it, whether it’s plastic surgery or plates,” there could be another procedure, Preston said.

“The bone is ground out really, really bad, so they’re worried it being narrow enough to where they can’t really put a pin in it,” Preston said, adding that doctors had discussed doing a bone graft.”

“But he’s in good spirits, as good as you can be laying in a hospital,” Preston said. “He’s getting even better at one-handed texting. For him, the hand is painful; you have to hold it over your head. If it’s down it throbs.”

Hayden was injured when he was rammed from behind by Maltin Polar/Roadracingworld.com's Robertino Pietri early in Superbike qualifying. In addition to the hand injury, Hayden suffered three fractures to his pelvis and three fractures to his lower left lumbar.

Preston said there is no plan to replace Hayden at this weekend’s race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

“We couldn’t think of that," he said. “Obviously, we want to assess the damage and when he can return. We don’t want to push him at any rate. We’re behind him 100%. It’d be such short notice, pretty degrading to him we’ve given up.”

“We have (Jamie) Hacking there and we’ll shift some more support to Hacking and see if we can’t help make his performance better, so he can get up there. He’s doing his job; we’re sort of letting him down. It’s a disappointment for him as well. Hacking and Roger were helping each other test things. Now (Hacking) is doing it on his own.”