Toseland retires from racing
Added on Sunday, September 11th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Toseland retires from racing
After suffering from serious wrist injuries earlier this year, British rider James Toseland has announced his retirement from racing.
Toseland, who has picked up two world championship titles in Superbikes, injured his wrist at the Aragon track earlier this year, and had been warned that the damage could be a threat to his career.
The former world champion did return to WSBK racing, but a further crash at Nurburgring caused doctors to warn him that he should stop racing, for his own safety.
The 30-year-old rider said: “The easiest way to explain it is that I don’t have enough range of movement in my wrist to race professionally and no amount of physiotherapy is going to improve that,”
“This all led to the verdict was that it’s no longer safe for me to continue a career in motorcycle racing.”
“I have to put the safety of the other riders on track first, as well as thinking about my own safety. Knowing that I will never again be fully fit to race at the highest level, it’s also unfair for me to occupy a great seat in WSBK that a young, talented rider who is fully fit could take better advantage of.”
Toseland was the 2004 Superbike World Champion, racing with the Fila Ducati team, and then became world champion again with Ten Kate Honda.
Toseland won the 2004 Superbike World Championship with the Fila Ducati team and then in 2007 with Ten Kate Honda. He then became a MotoGP rider for Tech 3 Yamaha, Toseland made his debut back in 2008, but chose to leave the MotoGP paddock after 2010, following a couple of difficult seasons. He then returned to racing this year in the Superbikes category, with the BMW team.
He added: “Obviously, the decision has been a difficult one and it’s been really hard to take the advice of my consultant and admit defeat on this occasion but I really have no other option left at this stage,”
“I’ve tried everything possible for the last few months but the sad truth is that none of it has worked and my wrist will never fully heal enough for me to operate the throttle properly and navigate right hand turns.
“You have been amazing in the best and worst times of my career and it’s been almost like having a second family to support me through my career. So, thank you for everything and I hope that I have done you proud.”
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