Road racing legend John McGuinness will miss this year's edition of the Isle of Man TT. Last week, McGuinness crashed during North West 200 qualifying, suffering a compound fracture of his lower right leg, broken vertebrae and broken ribs. The 23-time Isle of Man winner has confirmed in a statement with Honda Racing that he won't be able to participate in the Isle of Man due to his injuries. The TT begins with a week of qualifying on 27 May 2017 and the actual competition races begin on 3 June 2017.
McGuinness crashed at Primrose Hill during last Thursday's superbike qualifying. Honda Racing immediately withdrew the second rider Guy Martin from the North West 200 as well. Guy Martin will participate at the 2017 IOMTT, but there is no word yet on if Honda Racing will replace 45-year-old McGuinness for the iconic event.
John McGuinness and Guy Martin
"I really am truly overwhelmed with the amount of support and well wishes that have been flooding in since my accident at the North West 200 last Thursday. Both myself and the wife (Becky) have received so much support and I cannot thank the race fans, industry people, the medical teams and fellow racers enough; all your messages do help pull me through the dark hours.
"I'm still at the Royal Victoria Hospital undergoing various treatments for my leg injury; the fixator is still yet to be fitted as they don't want to run the risk of infection, so at the moment it is day-by-day.
"I'm not going to lie, missing the TT this year is going to hurt, but I will be watching and keeping an eye on everything! Good luck to all the lads heading out there; if I am able to head over then of course I will be there, but at the moment everything is day-by-day and I just have to do what I can to recover and get better. It's going to be a long road ahead, but I have a great support network around me, so I have to be patient and take each day as it comes," McGuinness said in a statement.
Honda Racing has not released any details on the exact nature of McGuinness's crash, but Martin was withdrawn from both Supersport and Superstock races at North West 200. Honda is believed to be trying to ascertain the cause of the crash and to determine if there was any mechanical failure with the Honda CBR1000RR 'Fireblade'. Testing for Honda Racing will resume in the next few days and so far, there is no official word if Guy Martin will ride alone at the Isle of Man TT.
