Doyle on the mend

Aussie star Jason Doyle is determined to get "back to winning ways at the start of the year" as he launches his rehabilitation from the injuries that ended his fantastic 2016 Speedway Grand Prix charge in Torun.

Doyle crashed hard in heat four in Torun on October 1, suffering a punctured and distressed lung, multiple broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a shattered elbow.

Having gone into the round with a 5pt series lead, Doyle could only look on from his hospital bed as American great Greg Hancock overhauled him to seal title No.4 in the finale at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium.

But the Newcastle-born racer is determined to bounce back from the latest injury setback of his career in top form and says he’s on the mend. He said: “It’s not too bad,” he said. “I’m all fixed now. There’s no more pain. I’m just trying to get back on track and get my arms moving again.

“It’s going to be a long off-season and I definitely want to be back to winning ways at the start of the year.

“From now on, I have a lot of recovery to do. I am looking forward to it. They’re saying that in three months, I should be back to 100 percent fit.

“It’s down to me how hard I want to push it. But there’s no big rush to get back on a bike in the next couple of months, so I can really work hard and get the injuries back to 100 percent and not worry about anything in the future.”

Doyle has endured a catalogue of problems with his shoulder, taking most of the 2011 season off after having surgery on a torn rotator cuff. Things have improved since then, and after undergoing an operation in Barcelona, he’s hopeful the days of dislocations are behind him.

He said: “The rotator cuff wasn’t torn at all. That held up quite well. This time it was recurring dislocations, so I had to have another shoulder fix. The operation in Spain was to fix it so it didn’t get dislocated anymore.

“There’s a place called Teknon in Barcelona. Dr (Aleix) Vidal is the leading shoulder specialist in Europe and pretty much does all the MotoGP boys and most of the top-name motorcycle riders.

“If everything goes well and I train my shoulders and everything else that’s broken at the moment back to normal, it shouldn’t be a problem at all.

“I’m glad it happened now at the end of the season. It could have happened at the start of next year and then I’d have had to have another whole year off again.”

Doyle is still unable to fly to Australia until the New Year due to his lung damage. But he said: “They have given me the all-clear to fly short-haul at the moment. I flew back to Barcelona after having a couple of days off in Britain.

“It was four-plus ribs I broke. They ended up puncturing the lung. At first, it was a big shock. I didn’t know what was going on. When you’re in a foreign country, no-one is speaking English and that happens, it’s quite a scary moment. The lungs are good now.”

Doyle says his elbow is also healing well after undergoing surgery in Torun. He said: “The elbow is a very good job. Dr Damian in Torun has helped the riders from Torun many a time. There was a lot of faith in this doctor to do a good job and my elbow has come a long way in four weeks.

“I’ve been told by a couple of physios I might have trouble turning my palm upwards, which isn’t the case.

"I’ve had no pain at all with any movement. It’s just a case of getting it back fit and strong.”