Josh Day will not be riding his Yamalube/Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 in the Superstock 1000 races during this coming weekend’s MotoAmerica event at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP).
In spite of breaking his left thumb in four places during a crash 12 days ago at Road Atlanta and having surgery to pin his thumb bones back together nine days ago, Day had hoped to be able to ride in the event. But that plan changed shortly after Day arrived at NJMP Thursday.
“I got on the bike today and tried to see how the hand and thumb were going to work. It’s going to be unrideable, for the most part,” Day told Roadracingworld.com. “So we’re going to take it easy, relax and let the hand finish its healing cycle the right way. We’ll see where we can be at VIR [VIRginia International Raceway], but we might have to look ahead to Road America.
“We were trying to be optimistic and to be as prepared as we could to go out and ride. I did everything I could to be ready for this weekend, just non-stop taking care of it, babying it and doing all the right things. But it’s just not strong enough. I’m just going to try to take care of it and get it healed as soon as possible.”
Yamalube/Westby Racing Team Manager Chuck Giacchetto told Roadracingworld.com that his team was considering putting another rider on Day’s bike temporarily while he recovers. Giacchetto said that decision and a rider announcement could come Friday morning.