AMA 600cc Supersport and Formula Xtreme Champion Kurtis Roberts underwent surgery by Dr. Art Ting in California yesterday to relieve compartment syndrome in both arms.

In a phone call to Roadracing World this morning, Roberts said that the surgery involves cutting a muscle sheath to allow the muscle to expand, relieving a problem commonly known as arm pump. Dr. Ting recently performed the same surgery on Larry Pegram.

The symptoms of the syndrome include numbness in the hand and an inability to feel or properly operate the controls. Roberts had said earlier that his right hand went numb and he couldn’t feel the handlebar after three laps at Sears Point.

“I should be back for Mid-Ohio,” Roberts said. “It could be a little earlier, it could be a little later, but it likely will be Mid-Ohio.” The Mid-Ohio AMA National is scheduled for July 20-22.

Roberts also said that he did not have effective braking power when he hit John Hopkins, then running third, entering turn five on the second lap of the 600cc Supersport race at Road America last Sunday.

“They think maybe I got an air bubble in the system when I fell down,” Roberts said, refering to his warm-up-lap crash. “When I pumped the brakes I started to get some but not enough. I wasn’t even trying to make the corner, I was just looking for a hole and trying to get it slowed down enough so I wouldn’t hit the wall.”

About Hopkins’ anger at getting hit, (expressed by Hopkins flipping-off Roberts with both hands, and seen on the TV broadcast of the race), Roberts said “I know exactly how he feels. It’s happened to me.”

Roberts came to Hopkins’ pit immediately after the incident and told a crew member “Tell John I didn’t have any brakes. Tell him I’m sorry.”

When the crew member relayed that information to Hopkins, who was out on pit lane with the rest of his crew, Hopkins said, “Oh, okay.”