Kemea Yamaha’s Brent Van Doninck is staring at another recuperation period from MX2 Grand Prix competition to fix a right thumb injury.
The Belgian should make an assessment this week and could miss almost two months of action if he undergoes an operation for a broken tendon. The 20-year-old, who has already fought back from a dislocated hip this season, was forced to pull out of the first moto at Talavera in Spain last weekend because of the problem.
“I have been struggling for a long time with my thumb,” he said. “Not many know because after I injured my hip I did not want people talking behind my back. I kept it quiet but this broken tendon has become too much. It happened two or three days before I dislocated my hip in Lommel. I kept riding and eventually the doctor said I would need an operation to fix it. I asked if I could keep trying to race until the end of the season because I felt like it might be possible but he said at one point I’d need to stop.”
“It has only been getting worse and wearing a brace I think has given me an infection – it hasn’t healed and I always have a burning feeling in my thumb,” he added.
Van Doninck watched team-mate Benoit Paturel finish second on the podium in Spain and now has to face a difficult decision to try and get back to the impressive potential he showed prior to the hip ailment in what is just his second year in Grands Prix.
“I’ve had a lot of swelling and I will see the doctor this week,” he commented. “I think the operation will mean I’m out for six or seven weeks. I hope to still ride some races this year but I will need another two or three weeks on the bike after the operation to get ready physically – you cannot just show-up at a Grand Prix.”
