McGuinness facing 'long road to recovery'

McGuinness suffered a compound fracture of his right tibia and fibula after coming off his Honda Fireblade SP2 Superbike at Primrose corner during practice.

The 45-year-old, who also sustained three broken back ribs and four broken vertebrae, is being treated at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and admits he faces a long road to recovery.

He has been ruled out of the Isle of Man TT and the Morecambe man says missing the event ‘is going to hurt’.

In a statement released through his Honda Racing team, he said: “I really am truly overwhelmed with the amount of support and well wishes that have been flooding in since my accident at the North West 200 last Thursday.

“Both myself and the wife (Becky) have received so much support and I cannot thank the race fans, industry people, the medical teams and fellow racers enough; all your messages do help pull me through the dark hours.

“I’m still at the Royal Victoria Hospital undergoing various treatments for my leg injury; the fixator is still yet to be fitted as they don’t want to run the risk of infection, so at the moment it is day-by-day.

“I’m not going to lie, missing the TT this year is going to hurt, but I will be watching and keeping an eye on everything. Good luck to all the lads heading out there: if I am able to head over then of course I will be there, but at the moment everything is day-by-day and I just have to do what I can to recover and get better.

“It’s going to be a long road ahead, but I have a great support network around me, so I have to be patient and take each day as it comes.”

The Honda team remains committed to competing at the TT with Guy Martin but has not confirmed whether or not a second rider will be brought into the team.

TT practice is scheduled to get underway on Saturday, May 27.