Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yamaha/Graves Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster has a non-displaced fracture of the navicular bone in his left wrist and is currently deciding whether he will sit out races for treatment or continue to ride with the injury.

“It’s still intact and it’s still recoverable for the season,” Buckmaster told Roadracingworld.com Saturday afternoon. “Like, I can get it repaired and come back and still finish pretty well at the end of the year. Our big concern is if I damage it or fall or get knocked off. I might not even have to get knocked off. If I damage it more at all, I could finish the year on the sidelines. So we’re trying to make the right decision here, but it’s just a very difficult decision for me to make and say, ‘OK, let’s quit,’ because I’m not a quitter.”

Buckmaster has consulted with his normal physician, Dr. Thomas Bryan, and with famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. Arthur Ting, both of whom recommended that Buckmaster stop riding and have the fracture repaired.

“So I have it on pretty good authority it needs repair and to continue riding is a pretty stupid thing to do,” said Buckmaster. “I’m just going to talk to (Yamaha Team Manager) Tom (Halverson) a bit more, and we might give Keith (McCarty, Yamaha Racing Supervisor) a call and try and get the information from a few different angles. I don’t want to make a decision that someone isn’t happy with.”

If he stops riding to get the fracture repaired, Buckmaster said he may return for the Brainerd AMA round in late-June.

Buckmaster injured his hand/wrist in a crash during practice May 16 at Barber Motorsports Park.

Update: Buckmaster has decided to withdraw from the races at PPIR and immediately return to California for treatment to his injured left hand.