http://www.adbmag.com.au JANUARY 2018 | 161T
here aren’t too many
doctors who would
look at a broken foot,
operate on it and then
send you off to race
just days later. But
this was Poland and
that’s exactly what
Torun’s Dr Damien Janiszewski did
after Jason Doyle crashed in a
domestic speedway round on 18 June.
Doyle had to get up for the next
Speedway Grand Prix in Denmark.
Not racing wasn’t an option. Nine
months earlier, he had sustained
potentially life-threatening injuries
in Torun during the Polish SGP when
he’d been the hot title favourite. It
couldn’t happen again, could it?
Speedway hasn’t exactly been kind
to Doyle. He has had chronic shoulder
problems throughout his career and
at the first Speedway GP in
Melbourne in 2015, he crashed in the
final, sustaining a broken vertebra in
his neck and a punctured lung.Next came the 2016 Poland crash
which almost ended his career. After
so many setbacks, all Doyle wanted
was a clean run this year. He had the
potential, now he just needed luck.
“Injuries are part and parcel of the
sport,” says Doyle. “But you don’t
want to be having them every year. It
seems like every year I’m ending up
in hospital.” But there must be
something in the water he drinks
because, sure enough, the injury
curse struck again.
It appeared that he might yet again
miss out on the ultimate prize but
Doyle wasn’t taking no for an answer
and, with the blessing of Dr
Janiszewski, he arrived at the CASA
Arena in Horsens, Denmark on 24
June, ready to race.
Missing that GP would have been
disastrous for his title bid, so he
pushed through the pain to collect an
incredible 15 points and tie Patryk
Dudek for the championship lead. It
was the stuff of legend. He was in soWoffinden was the first to congratulate DoyleWho’s a happy chappy now, then?Doyle won three rounds and got a second this year