Kiyonari to ride warmup to assess broken collarbone

A battered and bruised Ryuichi Kiyonari will return to the MCE British Superbike track tomorrow, with the triple champion confirming to MCN that he will attempt to ride in the morning’s 10-minute warmup to assess his shoulder.

The Japanese rider dramatically broke his shoulder this morning in a free practice crash at Graham Hill bend, and looked set to concede the War for Four fight for the title to rival Shane Byrne.

However, with Byrne then crashing out of the weekend’s opening race, the championship lead now remains at a slender 12 points. That still leaves Kiyonari with a mountain to climb, but as today has shown, anything can happen.

Kiyonari said after the day’s racing: “I still can’t believe what has happened. The crash happened very fast and I wasn’t pushing too hard, but the data said that I had more acceleration than the lap before. I just think ‘why now?’ and I am disappointed for today because we have worked hard to fight for the title, but I am not giving up yet because I can’t; I have to try. I am going to go to bed early and get up early and then visit the medical centre in the morning and try in warm up.”