Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s Josh Hayes is having surgery today at the Cedar Lake Surgical Center in Biloxi, Mississippi, on the left hand that was seriously injured in a crash during practice at California Speedway April 6.

Hayes originally had six hours of surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center near Fontana, California to mend several broken bones in the hand and repair a nearly severed fifth finger.

In that April 6 procedure, four pins, a metal plate and pieces of surgical wire were inserted into Hayes’ damaged hand, but now Dr. Alexander Blevens is replacing two of the pins with metal plates and will fix an incorrectly aligned ring finger.

According to Hayes, the procedure should allow him to bend his finger joints and start rehabilitation sooner. Speaking via cell phone from the surgery center’s waiting room, Hayes said that while he wasn’t given a recovery time schedule, he hopes to return to action in time for the AMA National at Pikes Peak May 30-June 2.

In the meantime, his team has reversed an earlier decision not to put another rider on Hayes’ Formula Xtreme bike and is talking to former Australian Superbike and World Superbike competitor Marty Craggill.