Miguel Duhamel, the all-time winningest rider in AMA road racing history, is lying in a hospital in Georgia today and may be out for the season after crashing into a wall at high speed during an unofficial AMA team test at Road Atlanta. Duhamel was one of many riders taking part in the two-day (August 7-8), multi-team test at the newly-repaved, 2.5-mile, 12-turn road course at Road Atlanta, in Braselton, Georgia. For most riders it was their first time seeing the new racing surface, which resulted in lap times at the test being as much as two seconds faster than during the 2006 AMA Superbike races. At approximately 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Duhamel was evaluating new Dunlop tires on his American Honda CBR1000RR Superbike as he approached Turn 12 (the most dangerous turn in AMA road racing if not the world in the opinion of some racers) at 120-130 mph. Duhamel encountered a problem early in the corner that resulted in the rear end of his motorcycle coming around and throwing the French-Canadian off. “You ever play with those lawn darts when you were a kid? You throw them underhand real fast about three feet off the ground. That’s what it looked like,” said Al Ludington, Duhamel’s long-time Crew Chief, who witnessed the accident. “He drilled straight in. He didn’t hit the ground before he went in.” According to Ludington, Duhamel’s CBR led him into the miniscule run-off area and hit and displaced the Airfence, resulting in Duhamel heavily impacting hay bales and a tire wall. “He had just bent it in,” continued Ludington, “just went to the throttle and it came unglued at the back. It went right off the racetrack without bouncing. It was pretty horrific to watch.” Ludington was one of the first at the scene. He said Duhamel never lost consciousness and was aware of what happened and what was going on. After reporting that he could feel all of his fingers and toes, Duhamel said he was having trouble breathing and his neck hurt. He was transported by ambulance to North Georgia Medical Center, in Gainesville, Georgia, where he immediately underwent X-rays and CT scans. “I came back to the track,” said Ludington, who followed the ambulance to the hospital. “They called when they got the CT scans back. He broke a couple of ribs on the back side, which collapsed a lung. The other lung is bruised. He’s got a 5 cm laceration in his liver. He’s got a really badly sprained ankle, which is badly swollen. And he is sore all over, which is about what you would expect for going straight into the Turn 12 wall. “He’ll be there for a few days. They said two to three days for observation. I just had a niece that went through a lacerated liver. She was in the hospital for four or five days, and then they said no exerting yourself for three to four months. So I would be really surprised if we see Miguel back on a bike this season, but that’s just me guessing.” No other riders were known to have crashed during the test.