Shane`s Report;

Posted: Wed 15 Oct 2003

The Aussie Shane Watts: who is campaigning in the States has fought hard to Overcome Injuries: to get back to his previous competitive form.
Shane`s PR will be regularly updating Silver Bullet with his progress.

Race report - Seperated shoulder for Watts.

Team KTM Offroad racer Shane Watts suffered an unfortunate end to his race at Round 9 of the National Hare Scramble Championship held on the weekend in Lynnville, Indiana.

\"This isn\'t the kind of result I wanted or expected from this race,\" Watts commented on Sunday afternoon. \"The course here is kind of sketchy with the hidden rocks in the undergrowth, and the slightly dusty conditions, so I decided before the race just to ride easy today and not take any risks. I was focussing on being 100% for the final GNCC Championship race next weekend.\"
\"I totally missed the jump off the start and thus trailled the field into the first turn. From there I just slowly picked off one rider after another and by the start of the last lap I had moved into third position. I wasn\'t pushing myself at all and was feeling very comfortable on the bike, and the pace that I was riding at.\"

Not far into the final lap of the three hour race, third placed Watts tagged a hidden rock on the edge of the track and was subsequently catapulted over the handlebars of his KTM 200EXC machine and driven hard into the ground on his left shoulder region.
After regaining his breath and composure Watts was forced to retire from the race at that point.

\"My shoulder didn\'t feel right. Part of it didn\'t feel like it should have been where it was when I tried to move it, and it was also making some crunching noises.\"

Examination on Monday by a shoulder specialist revealed a seperated shoulder. A CT scan was also taken to try to confirm a possible fractured inferior rim of the gleniod (shoulder socket). The scan results won\'t be available for another day.

\"This is a major bummer! Obviously everything was just really starting to come back together for me. It\'s hard to say when I\'ll be able to race again, whether it\'s this weekend at the last round of the Grand National Cross Country Championship or some other stage. After having fought so hard to comeback over the last 2 years from major injury to get back on top of the podium, this shoulder injury is going to be a piece of cake to recover from. However, I will be letting it fully heal before I try to race again.\"

National Hare Scramble Championship
October 12 - Lynnville, Indiana
1. Jason Raines (YAM)
2. Doug Blackwell (HON)
3. Barry Hawk (YAM)
4. Scott Summers (HON)
5. Nathan Kanney (YAM)
6. Jade Gutzeit (KTM)
7. Brian Garrahan (KTM)