Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Honda UK Race Team rider John McGuiness sat out the Kyalami, South Africa round of the Supersport World Championship due to what was later found to be pneumonia.

According to a press release from his team, McGuinness was taken to a local hospital near Johannesburg Friday afternoon after telling his crew that he was experiencing pain in his back and a feeling of dizziness during qualifying.

Team Manager Roger Harvey was quoted in the release as saying, “They discovered John had a large area of a lung which was affected. He’ll stay in hospital overnight but we’ve been assured that after 24 hours on anti-biotics he’ll be OK and should be released tomorrow evening.

“John struggled throughout practice and qualifying today and it became obvious late this afternoon that the problem may be more serious than any of us thought. We’re just pleased the problem has been diagnosed and he’s on the road to recovery.”

McGuinness won the AMA 250cc Grand Prix race at Daytona in 1999 and 2000.