Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

1993 500cc Grand Prix World Champion Kevin Schwantz injured his left hand when he crashed his Suzuki DR-Z400 in the STTARS Super TT race Sunday at California Speedway.

“(Mike) Cinqmars, the freestyle motocross guy, got into me at the start of the Middleweight race,” Schwantz told Roadracingworld.com Monday. “I tangled bars with his seat as we were coming out (of the first turn). He was trying to shove me into the haybales, and I fell.

“There’s something broken in my (left) hand, but I haven’t gone to the doctor yet. I don’t know if the handlebar landed on it or what exactly, but something’s not right. It may be all dislocated or it may be broke, I’m not sure. The knuckles aren’t even skinned up. The gloves, there isn’t anything even wrong with them.

“You know what I’m thinking maybe happened is when the handlebar got stuck in his seat and the handlebar started to get yanked out of my hand, I held on even tighter. And the grip I had may have jammed or dislocated some of the bones in my hand, because it yanked it real hard.”

Schwantz retired from professional Grand Prix racing due to a lack of mobility in his left wrist, the result of crash-related injuries, but the Texan says his wrist wasn’t affected in the fall. “My fingers are OK, my wrist’s OK, but it’s the back of my hand. I just got into Atlanta, and I’m going to get it looked at tonight. I’m going to see a doctor out here. We’ve got a (Kevin Schwantz Suzuki) school then the (AMA team) test and all that stuff coming up out here (Road Atlanta), so I figured I’d get it done out here.

“I stayed for the (Formula) Xtreme race and the start of the Superbike race, then I left to go to the hospital. But I got fed up with waiting in line with a bunch of crying, sneezing, S.A.R.S. (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)-infected Asians. So I left. I figured S.A.R.S. will kill me, what’s wrong with my hand won’t.”