Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Arclight Suzuki’s Scott Harwell is expected to be back in action for the Formula USA National round at Virginia International Raceway June 27-29 following surgery to plate his broken right hand.

Harwell crashed while running fourth in the first F-USA Sportbike race June 15 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hamsphire. Harwell highsided in turn one and broke the third metacarpal in his right hand, near the wrist joint.

Harwell, who was just reaching full fitness following a serious right wrist fracture suffered in the middle of the 2002 season, underwent a 1.5-hour operation Thursday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to insert a small plate and two screws into the fracture. The surgery was performed by the same doctor who treated Harwell’s wrist last year.

“He’s got a ‘Boxer’s Fracture,’ which as far as hand fractures go is not a big deal. But that’s easy for me to say because it’s not my broken hand,” said Arclight Suzuki Team Co-owner and Crew Chief Chuck Warren.

“It’ll depend on how much pain he can manage, but structurally the hand will be fine. The doctors told him the hand won’t be at 100 percent, but the hand will be 100 percent within six weeks, easily. And once the plate and the screws are in place, if he can tolerate the discomfort, the hand will be structurally sound.

“He’s been riding motorcycles at work, just moving them around the shop and everything and using his hand and using his braking finger. He says right now if he brakes with his middle finger, it hurts quite a bit and he can feel the bone move around. So once they stabilize that, it’ll just be a matter of if he can tolerate the pain or not.

“He seems to think this isn’t going to slow him down much.”

Following the Loudon Formula USA event, Harwell was tied for seventh in Sportbike points and was fourth in the Superbike Championship standings with four rounds remaining.