JOHN CROCKFORD confounded the medics by winning Sunday's British Superstock Championship round at Brands Hatch - with a broken leg!
The Totton road racer broke the fibula bone, below the knee of his left leg, in a high-speed crash at Silvertsone just two weeks ago.
"I don't think my family doctor would have been too impressed to see me riding at Brands, but I saw a bone specialist who looks after the riders and he said it would be okay provided I stayed on the bike," smiled Crockford.
"The break fortunately isn't in a load bearing bone so I can still walk on it. But it hurt during the race because I have to use the left leg a fair bit for gear changing etc.
And a day after the race it was aching like mad."
Crockford was expected to be one of the front-run-ners in this year's championship after finishing third overall in 2002. And even on one leg he looked a class act at Brands, qualifying in second place after a radical change in set up between the first and sec-ond qualifying sessions.
The only worry for Crockford going into the race, apart from pro-tecting his leg, was a lack of grip which he improved by adjusting the ride height of his Roundstone Suzuki GSX-R 1000.
There were no hints of an injury as Crockford got the hole shot and held the lead during the early stages of the race until young Kieran Murphy on the ChrysalisSuzuki from Southampton went by.
The duel between the two men heightened as Crockford re-took the lead but suddenly ended as Murpy tried to go through on the inside out Graham Hill bend, bit off more than he could chew, and went down on the tarmac.
Crockford himself lost a couple of places in the incident, allowing former champion Dave Jefferies to storm past on the Suzuki.
It looked like Jefferies' race as the big Yorkshireman began to pull away and Crockford admitted:
"I was ready to follow him home.
"I didn't want to take any unec-essary risks and in my condition I would have settled for a place onthe podium anyway.
"But, unlike Jefferies, he lost it coming out of Druids. Perhaps he was pushing a bit too hard. But I took the lead again and from there to the flag me and my team-mate Chris Burns kept swapping places until Chris started to suffer from lack of grip. I took the flag which was a real bonus but consolation for crashing at Silverstone when I was looking for the win."
The Superbike Championshipe was dominated by Scotland's Steve Hislop who won both races.
Waterlooville's Jamie Morley had another frustrating meeting aboard a makeshift Suzuki until he takes possession of a new Ducati, hopefully for the next round at Donington on April 28.
Morley had to settle for 15th lace and then a retirement with a bro-ken clutch.
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