Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Formula USA road and dirt track racer Nate “Gator” Wait is out for the remainder 2003 racing season with a double fracture of his right wrist.

The injury occurred when Wait crashed in the first corner of the warm-up lap for the F-USA Sportbike race Sunday, September 7 at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia.

“It just totally lost all traction in the rear and started to slide out, then it went to like lowside, then it caught and highsided me,” said Wait Wednesday from his home in Lodi, California. “I don’t know if it was a cold tire or it was a harder compound or what. I took the warm-up lap like I would any other first lap. I was already off the front brake and slowing down, and I had barely started to crack the throttle at a little lean angle and it slid out.

“How I broke my wrist I don’t know. I jumped up and went to run for my bike. When I went to grab the handlebars to lift my bike up [my hand] wasn’t working. When I went to grab it, it felt like my arm bones were digging in the ground. My bones were basically poking out my skin. They didn’t come out, but they were right there.”

The radius and ulna were broken just above Wait’s right wrist and completely dislocated. Wait had surgery Tuesday night in which Dr. Arthur Ting set Wait’s fractures and attached an external fixator device. Wait will have to wear the fixator for at least six weeks before starting rehabilitation, which rules him out for the remainder of the 2003 Formula USA series.

At the time of his accident, Wait was in contention for the F-USA Grand National Championship, which combines points from select Formula USA road race and dirt track events. Wait was second, six points behind leader Nicky Cummings after six of 10 rounds. Cummings, 16, now holds a commanding 17-point in the F-USA GNC point standings with two dirt track and one road race event remaining.

Current Unofficial F-USA Grand National Championship Point Standings:

1. Nick Cummings, 102 points
2. Nate Wait, 85 points
3. Scott Greenwood, 83 points
4. Matt Wait, 81 points
5. Rob Pearson, 72 points
6. Jeff Wood, 66 points
7. Bryan Smith, 61 points
8. Michael Himmelsbach, 56 points
9. Dave Stanton, 55 points
10. Des Conboy, 53 points

The next Formula USA GNC round is a dirt track race in Sacramento, California September 14.