VOL. 51 ISSUE 16 APRIL 22, 2014 P23
BAKER INJURED
A
MA Grand National Cham-
pion Brad Baker suffered a
badly broken left arm last week
at Colin Edwards' Texas Tornado
Boot Camp in Conroe, Texas,
with the Harley-Davidson fac-
tory rider undergoing surgery
on Thursday, April 17 at Houston
University General in Houston.
Baker says the injury has a re-
covery time of five to six weeks
and he will race in the next round
of the AMA Grand National
Championship – the Springfield
Mile – on May 25.
Dr. Henry Small, a noted or-
thopedist in Houston who has
operated on Edwards in the past,
performed the surgery.
"The ulna has a clean, break-
off fracture right below the el-
bow and more towards the wrist,
above that first fracture, I had
another fracture that wasn't a
clean break all the way across,"
Baker explained from the hos-
pital. "On the end of the radius,
right below the elbow, it was bro-
ken in a couple of pieces. They
ended up replacing the whole
end of the radius with a stainless,
socket-looking type deal – just
so it didn't take forever to heal.
It would have taken a long time
and usually if it takes a long time
I probably wouldn't have been
able to extend my arm the whole
way. This is more durable and
will last longer so they ended up
replacing the whole end of the
radius and plated the heck out of
my ulna and put a whole bunch
of screws in it."
The accident happened on a
TT course at the Edwards camp
when Baker crashed while trying
to avoid a fallen rider – a friend
of MotoGP racer Scott Redding.
Baker was injured when his mo-
torcycle came down on top of
him, smashing his elbow.
"It was a really slow over the
bars deal and I hung in the air for
a little while and caught myself,
but the motorcycle was above
me and I just knew that motor-
cycle was coming down on me,"
Baker said. "It was teetering up
above me and it just flipped over
and the swingarm and wheel got
my left elbow and broke it all up."
Baker now faces rehabilita-
tion as he attempts to get himself
healthy for the Springfield Mile.
"Basically it's five to six weeks,"
the 21-year-old Baker said. "It's
going to come down to how hard
I work at it and what I do to make
it heal better. I'm getting a bone
ultrasound, I've got some mineral
enzymes to make the bones heal
quicker and I will be doing car-
dio. I will do a bone ultrasound
each day. I don't have a cast on
because one [bone] has been re-
placed and the other one is plated
up, so they have to heal. It's held
in place by plates and screws, but
they want me to start moving it as
early as tomorrow.
"It's looking like I won't be
completely 100 percent, but
good enough to hold on to the
bars at Springfield in six weeks.
It's just the mile. There's a TT the
night before, but it's an All-Star
race. But as far as Grand Nation-
als go, it's just the mile on Sun-
day and that works out best for
me. The TT and short track are
crazy physical and I'd have to be
in really good shape for those. I
wouldn't be able to do those at
100 percent. It's a track where
you get arm pump even if you're
100 percent."
Paul Carruthers
AMA Grand National
Champion Brad Baker
suffered a broken arm
last week in Texas.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
PAUL
CARRUTHERS
