Hitachi ASA KTM UK had a challenging day at the Blaxhall round of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championships on Sunday as their star riders Graeme Irwin and Conrad Mewse were in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Mewse received a five-place penalty in race one for allegedly jumping the table-top under waved yellow flags while a crash by Irwin in qualifying saw him trapped underneath his bike sustaining severe burns to his back and right arm.
We caught up with Team Principal Roger Magee to find out the latest on Irwin with what sounds like a very painful and more serious injury than first thought.
DBR: A tough weekend for Graeme, could you tell us about his crash?
Roger Magee: Graeme had a small crash in qualifying but somehow ended up trapped under the bike. He has four large burns on his right arm and back, and his shirt and body armour were melted into the flesh!
Luckily Dr. Iain Dobie was at the track, he’s the ACU doctor but also a personal friend, and was able to dress the wounds before each race. Graeme was in an incredible amount of pain and it shows how tough and determined he is that he even raced at all, so to finish with a fourth and seventh is fantastic.
DBR: I know those sorts of injuries can be very serious and take some time to heal, how is he now?
RM: Graeme is still in the burns unit in hospital [Wednesday morning]. He’s had some laser treatment and they’ve said he probably won’t need a skin graft now but they’re doing a chemical procedure starting today to heal the wounds.
DBR: And what about this weekend at Kegums?
He wants to ride this weekend in Latvia, but I’ve told him he’s not riding in Latvia or Germany!
Hopefully he’ll be ready to race at Matterley but if he’s not ready he won’t be racing there. He’s got two weekends away from GPs, then the only free weekend so hopefully, that will be enough time but his health is more important.
