From a press release issued by Team Oliver Yamaha:

Further explanation of Oliver’s hospitalization:

Rich Oliver has been inundated with requests for a further explanation of his recent hospitalization at the Santa Rosa Trauma center. In his team’s last press release on the subject, Rich had indicated he was using his injuries to avoid having to drive the team rig from race to race. But apparently there was more to the story and the facts of his treatment and week long stay are now just coming to light.

“Yes, it’s true, I was leaving some aspects of my treatment out of the last release”, said Rich. “Frankly, it’s embarrassing.” When pushed further, Rich gave this clarification, “Well I did have to go through four really painful and difficult operations, but I guess it really wasn’t so bad in between each one.”

Rich goes on, “up in Santa Rosa they are really close to the wine country, if not smack dab in it, so after the nursing staff found out I was a semi celebrity, I started getting what some would call special treatment. I had my own personal nutritionist, and she was great, I found out there is such a thing as an after 4pm Merlot intravenous bag. It was from a local vineyard, and it really took the edge off the pain, let me tell you! I think it was a 97. So once the wine started, it was great, because then she brought in a cheese and grape sampler plate, and a hot towel to clean your hands and face with, just like in first class.

Then my luck really changed because the guy next to me in my room got taken away, I’m not sure what happened to him, but I was happy cause he snored really loudly, and all he had was some minor problem like a silly broken femur or something. Well, in comes the new roommate, and she was a looker. Turns out she was doing a swim suit calendar photo shoot under Fort Point, in San Francisco, and a rouge wave caught her and hurled her down against the rocks. Well, we hit it off right away, and after I talked the nurse into hooking up a T fitting to the merlot bag, so my new roomy could have half of course, we started to exchange stories as well as our contact information. Turns out she was a big racing fan, and I was a big swimsuit fan, so we had a lot in common. After she told me about how her injuries would keep her from modeling for a while, I told her how I lost some of my toes, and it really got to her and she started to cry. She said it was a terrible thing to see any man lose an appendage, and boy did I agree. She then offered to help me feel better, and me being the gentleman I am, scooted the beds and the I V pole closer together to help her any way I could. Sure enough, right then in came the nurse with a 5 course meal from a local gourmet restaurant, and we had to continue after our fantastic meal.” Rich was unable to finish his comments at this point, sighting excruciating pain in his broken forearm, and left the interview incomplete.
More details will be released as they are available.

Team Oliver Yamaha is sponsored by:

Yamaha Motor Corp. USA
Dunlop Tires
Advanced Motion Controls
SHOEI Helmets
Silkolene Lubricants
Wilson’s Motorcycles
Sunsports Motorcycles
Auto Werks Paint
Rick Shell Crankshafts
Lindemann Engineering
Supertech
Sharkskinz
VP Racing Fuels
NGK Spark Plugs
EK Chain
AFAM
Chicken Hawk Tire Warmers
Kushitani Leathers
Helimot Leathers
Marietta Motorsports
Ferodo and Braketech
Frenotec
I Need Stickers. Com
Doc’s Custom and Collision
South Coast Inc.
AST Research
Cytomax, Cyto Sport