Toseland retiring from racing

DOUBLE World Superbike champion James Toseland has announced his retirement from motorcycle racing with immediate effect after the damage to his right wrist was diagnosed as irreparable.

The crash occurred in testing at Aragon earlier this year, forcing him to miss the majority of the following races through rehabilitation in his return to full fitness. Unfortunately the injuries sustained have turned out to be career-ending as the Yorkshireman was told that it is no longer safe for him to continue racing.

Announcing in a personal letter to his fans on his website Toseland said: "I wanted to write you a personal letter to explain the factors that have forced my early retirement and to take the oportunity to thank you for all of the amazing support that you have given me throughout my career.

"As you all know, I’ve had a tough time since injuring my right wrist during a testing crash at Aragon in Spain earlier this year. At the time of first seeing my Consultant, he warned that the damage to my wrist could be career-threatening, but we both committed to doing everything we could to ensure that I could continue racing.

"Having struggled through a couple of races and then crashing out in the terrible conditions at Nurburgring in Germany, I went back to see the Consultant, Mike Hayton, this week and the diagnosis was the worst I could have prepared myself for.

"The easiest way to explain it is that I don’t have enough range of movement in my wrist to race professionally and no amount of physiotherapy is going to improve that. This all led to the verdict was that it’s no longer safe for me to continue a career in motorcycle racing.

"I have to put the safety of the other riders on track first, as well as thinking about my own safety. Knowing that I will never again be fully fit to race at the highest level, it’s also unfair for me to occupy a great seat in WSBK that a young, talented rider who is fully fit could take better advantage of.

"Obviously, the decision has been a difficult one and it’s been really hard to take the advice of my Consultant and admit defeat on this occasion but I really have no other option left at this stage. I’ve tried everything possible for the last few months but the sad truth is that none of it has worked and my wrist will never fully heal enough for me to operate the throttle properly and navigate right hand turns.

"You have been amazing in the best and worst times of my career and it’s been almost like having a second family to support me through my career. So, thank you for everything and I hope that I have done you proud."