Last week we reported that Canadian Dan Kruger had a vicious highside during practice for the final round of the Pan Delta Championship series in Zhuhai, China that landed him in a Hong Kong hospital with severe injuries and internal bleeding. He then sent Inside Motorcycles this exclusive recap of what he called “the most unbeleivable weekend of my career.”
1. Hospital in China for initial diagnosis – pain meds, catheter inserted, X-rays, etc.
2. transported to Hong Kong hospital for further tests. Internal bleeding is the problem, with a fractured pelvis and a ruptured urethra.
3. Bleeding gets worse internally so they put me into surgery right away; two and half hours later, I wake up and things are much improved. They put some plastic parts inside me to reconstruct the damage.
4. I decide that I want to try to qualify and ride at the finals this weekend, so we take a van from Hong Kong to Zhuhai through the night and arrive one hour before qualifying.
5. I meet with track doctors and circuit management who, after looking me over and talking with me, accept my request to join the weekend.
6. I quality on pole with only two laps out, using a special SuperPole Q tire sent to me by Kevin Graham in Canada. I shock the field and am in pain
7. I start peeing blood and am concerned, but participate in Race 1. Unfortunately I have nothing for the Yes Yamaha rider (Huang Shi Zhao, the points leader at the time). I stay within four seconds of him the entire race just in case he makes a big mistake, but I was struggling to keep that up as it was. I did end up with the quickest lap of the race but second place in the end. The entire paddock was in shock and I spent the next four hours doing press from around the world, as what I’d done was apparently nothing short of amazing.
8. I went back to the hospital last night because of the blood thing and also stomach pain. Doctor feels it is simply the 12 pills I am taking – one of them is known to discolor the urine. I decide to go back the next day to compete in the final race of the year. If Zhao has any problems and I can still manage a 2nd, I will be the Pan Delta Superbike champion for 2013. It is a longshot but one I will try for. Worst case will be I will finish 2nd overall in China again in 2013.
9. Unbeleivable… I followed the Yes Yamaha rider for the first seven laps until we hit lapped traffic; I closed in and got by him. We fought and touched and it was thrilling. With two laps left, I pulled a two-second gap by working the traffic and won the race. I lost the championship by a few points, but it was thrilling for absolutely everyone.
10. The fans poured onto the track and I was mobbed.
11. I was getting sponsor offers for 2014 immediately.
I need to get healthy as it is a very serious injury, but winning was out of this world.
— Dan Kruger
{fcomment}
Last week we reported that Canadian Dan Kruger had a vicious highside during practice for the final round of the Pan Delta Championship series in Zhuhai, China that landed him in a Hong Kong hospital with severe injuries and internal bleeding. He then sent Inside Motorcycles this exclusive recap of what he called “the most unbeleivable weekend of my career.”
1. Hospital in China for initial diagnosis – pain meds, catheter inserted, X-rays, etc.
2. transported to Hong Kong hospital for further tests. Internal bleeding is the problem, with a fractured pelvis and a ruptured urethra.
3. Bleeding gets worse internally so they put me into surgery right away; two and half hours later, I wake up and things are much improved. They put some plastic parts inside me to reconstruct the damage.
4. I decide that I want to try to qualify and ride at the finals this weekend, so we take a van from Hong Kong to Zhuhai through the night and arrive one hour before qualifying.
5. I meet with track doctors and circuit management who, after looking me over and talking with me, accept my request to join the weekend.
6. I quality on pole with only two laps out, using a special SuperPole Q tire sent to me by Kevin Graham in Canada. I shock the field and am in pain
7. I start peeing blood and am concerned, but participate in Race 1. Unfortunately I have nothing for the Yes Yamaha rider (Huang Shi Zhao, the points leader at the time). I stay within four seconds of him the entire race just in case he makes a big mistake, but I was struggling to keep that up as it was. I did end up with the quickest lap of the race but second place in the end. The entire paddock was in shock and I spent the next four hours doing press from around the world, as what I’d done was apparently nothing short of amazing.
8. I went back to the hospital last night because of the blood thing and also stomach pain. Doctor feels it is simply the 12 pills I am taking – one of them is known to discolor the urine. I decide to go back the next day to compete in the final race of the year. If Zhao has any problems and I can still manage a 2nd, I will be the Pan Delta Superbike champion for 2013. It is a longshot but one I will try for. Worst case will be I will finish 2nd overall in China again in 2013.
9. Unbeleivable… I followed the Yes Yamaha rider for the first seven laps until we hit lapped traffic; I closed in and got by him. We fought and touched and it was thrilling. With two laps left, I pulled a two-second gap by working the traffic and won the race. I lost the championship by a few points, but it was thrilling for absolutely everyone.
10. The fans poured onto the track and I was mobbed.
11. I was getting sponsor offers for 2014 immediately.
I need to get healthy as it is a very serious injury, but winning was out of this world.
— Dan Kruger
{fcomment}
<
Discussion about this post