Following two surgeries and nearly eight weeks of combined recovery time Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich thought his broken left hand would be healed and good to go by the time he took to the track this weekend at Mid-Ohio. But after riding a limited number of laps during Thursday’s promoter practice and official practice Friday morning, Ulrich found his hand was far from 100% and would be a major hindrance out on track. “I can’t downshift fast enough,” Ulrich said Friday. “I can’t pull in the clutch lever multiple times quickly enough to downshift normally, so I have to start slowing down way too early before each corner. And I’m thinking about making downshifts instead of how to go faster. I wasn’t able to start physical therapy until after Laguna Seca. I had X-rays done at Laguna Seca, and they showed the bone was still broken, that it hadn’t fully healed. I probably shouldn’t have, but I started physical therapy anyway.” Ulrich said his crew moved the clutch lever on his bike’s left handlebar to give him better leverage, but he soon found that it would not be enough to make up for his lack of hand strength. Asked what he was going to do, Ulrich said, “Suck it up, hope some other guys have some problems and get whatever points I can.” Ulrich was fourth in the AMA Superstock Championship before he broke his left hand in a crash during a wet promoter practice session June 5 at Road America. After sitting out the Superstock race at Road America he dropped to seventh in the Championship point standings.