Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127961
By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose B t] ~ 8 ack from the dead " may be p ut ting it a litt le stron gl y. "Back fro m the blind ," how eve r, is no t. No r is "back from a wheelchair." Both o f these fates th rea tene d Ca rlos Checa - an d whether you rega rd his recover y as a me dical mystery or a full- blown mir acle, i t is certainly a grea t mercy. Th e Spa nish ri d er is himsel f in no d oubt. "I beli eve in Go d ," he said. "A nd I believe that God ha s given me another chance to do wha t I can do , to fulfill my ta lent , and to t ry to w in th e World Cham pions hip ." Carl os Ch eca' s trauma cam e at Doning ton Park. The eighth race of the year saw the Spa nish MoviStar Honda man riding high. He'd been going well all season - on the rostrum in the second race in the Malaysia Grand Prix. Throu ghou t, he'd outperform ed his illus triou s World Supe rbike C hampion tea m mat e John Kocinsk i. Che ap "Chubby " Ch eca had ou tridden and ou tpointed the "Million Doll a r Kid" b y miles ev en before th e American had gone home hu rt. Mo re im portantl y, he'd been getting stro nger as the season wore on. In the fifth rou nd , he fou ght for victory against Mick Doohan a nd Alex Criville , an d was onl y narr owl y defea ted. Then, in Mad rid two weeks later, he di d w in. To celeb ra te, the han d some, slightly diffid ent 25-y ea r-old h ad dyed his ha ir a clownish yellow . Even before tha t race, he'd had talks with Yamaha team boss Wayn e Rainey. A lt houg h plann in g h is ret ir em en t, Rainey was still shopp ing for rid ers on beha lf of the factory, and Checa was a likely can didate. Upon his arri val at Donington, he spoke ag ain w ith the Ame rican. Soon he wou ld have to decid e. First there was a race, beginning with free pra ctice a t the technically cha llenging Bri tish park land circuit. Checa was vy ing for a top- four pos ition and ha d set second-fa stest top speed (to Doo han) when, wit h six minutes remain ing, he slid o ff at speed at the last of the not oriou sly treacher ou s downhill sweepers called "Cra ner Curves." Anyone falling there (and there have bee n many) find s hi mself rolling, sliding a nd tu mb ling for grea t d istances . This happen ed to Che ca. In the pro cess, he believes, his elbow was trapped against his body, jabbing fier cely und er his rib . cage. But w hen he stopped, he was able to ge t to hi s fee t a n d wa lk g ingerl y away.-Jt wasn't until abou t 30 minutes later that wo rryin g sy m p toms showed u p; w h ile ou tw ardl y on ly sha ke n u p, Ch eca was bleeding heavily in terna lly from a half-inch ru p ture in his spleen. " I s ta r te d to feel di z zy in m y motor home. I cou ld hardly sit up," he recalls. When the track d octor saw him, the stricken rider was ru sh ed straight to a hosp ita l for emergen cy su rgery . His splee n was rem ov ed and his abdo me n d rained of blood, and while his fellow riders we re circulating the track in the first tim ed qu a lify in g sessio n, Checa was coming ar ound in the intensive-care unit a t Queens Hospital in No tting ham. And that wa s just the start of it. On Su nday, things got weird. "The firs t thing was, I started havi ng trouble br ea thing," Checa said. "I tried to call the nurse, bu t it was difficult to . call." In short orde r, Checa was su rround ed by me d ic a l s t a ff a n d b r e a t h in g through an oxygen mask .