Ipswich Witches’ No.1 Danny King has admitted to being ‘very, very lucky’, after his crash at Foxhall last Thursday.
The Foxhall Heath star and former British Champion admits he was ‘less than inches’ away from serious injury after his team-mate Michael Hartel’s bike ran over his arm, with the footrest just missing King’s neck.
“Yes, I’m very, very lucky,” King said.
“You only have to look at the pictures to see how lucky I was.
“Running over my arm was one thing, but I have a small cut on my neck where Michael’s footrest went past and got under my crash helmet.
“That footrest is solid metal, it dragged me a long a bit before spitting me off. I guess I was less than inches away from perhaps breaking my neck if it had been closer. It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
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The coming-together of King and Hartel appeared to all happen in slow motion.
It certainly wasn’t a high-impact, high speed accident.
But the result could have been far worse than a seriously swollen and damaged left arm that King has ultimately suffered.
“I’m lucky that it doesn’t appear to be broken,” King added.
“There may be a small fracture in it, but it’s difficult to tell at the moment because it is still so swollen.
“I don’t have any feeling in it either. That’s probably a trapped nerve.”
The loss of King last Thursday cost the Witches any hope of an knock-out cup run after they were beaten home and away by Lakeside.
But the Witches kept their Championship season nicely on track with a draw at Newcastle on Sunday.
So, when will King be back racing?
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In typical speedway style and despite the seriousness of the injury, he’d like to be back next week!
“It’s the British semi-final at Leicester next Tuesday and I’d love to be racing in that,” he said.
“There are no wildcards for the British Final this season, so if I don’t ride, I can forget the British Final.
“But to be honest it is going to take a lot for me to be fit, I know that.”
The Witches have no meeting at home on Thursday, but travel to Berwick on Saturday looking for more Championship points.
Nico Covatti is nearing a return to the track and King is seeing a specialist tomorrow to ascertain when his return may be on the cards.
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