UINTERVIEW RoadRacer Michael Doohan
~
By Rich Adams
he 1993 World Champ ionship SOOcc Grand Prix
Series was a roller coaster
ride for Au stralian Michael
Doohan. Not yet fully recovered
from the badly broken leg suffered at the Dutch Grand Prix in
June of 1992, the Rothmans
Honda sponsored rider struggled throughout the early parts
of '93 with a lack of mobility in
his still-mending leg, and from a
lack of pre-season testing.
Things began to look brighter
for Doohan when he returned to
the top of the winner's rostrum
with a win at the Italian GP, but
a first-lap crash at the following
round at Donington Park again
left him bruised and discouraged.
Three races later, Doohan
appeared set for his second win
of the season as he led the U.S.
.GP at Laguna Seca. With only
six laps to go , though, a small
miscalculation sent the personable Aussie crashing into the
hay bales, leaving him with a
cracked shoulder blade.
All was not lost, however.
Though he was forced to miss
. the final Grand Prix of the season at [a rarna, Spain, Doohan
was able to get a jump on what
will be an off-season filled with
operations, therapy - and testing.
Doohan is currently recupera ling in northern California
from an operation performed to
straighten the leg he badly dam. aged in '92. We caugh t up with
the man who is arguably the
most talented of the current
stars yet to win a SOOcc World
Championship.
H ow is your leg healing?
The leg is coming along quite
well, at least as far as the doctors
are concerned.
Will you be getting some more
movement in the ankle?
Well, at the moment that's not
what this operation was for. The
purpose of the opera tion was to
straighten my leg . There's been a
fairly bad deformity in it since
the start of the season. I think
the doctors will more or less
work on stra ightening the leg ,
and then concentra te on getting
some more range-of-motion. But
that's not my biggest concern
because I've got my bike set up
so that I can rid e without using
the foot brake. Personally, I'd
like to get some more range, and
Dr . (Arthur) Ting might be able
to get some more from it.
Will you undergo a nother op erati on ?
Just a small operation, not a
major one. Just an arthroscope in
the ankle to clear out some scar
tissue... Again, that's all minor
stuff - long-term stuff. But as far
as next season is concerned, I
just have to get my leg straight
and strong enough. This season
T
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