Frank Shockley, who was involved in a two-rider pile-up during the WERA B Superbike race at Roebling Road Raceway, March 20th, and sustained wrist, lung and rib injuries, is back at his Greenville, South Carolina home and is on the road to recovery.
Shockley was riding a 2004 Aprilia Mille Factory when he lost the front-end in turn four on the second lap of the B Superbike race and was run over by Ryan Gordon, who had nowhere to go. Gordon also fell in the incident and sustained a concussion.
“I got a good start and was running third on the first lap,” Shockley told Roadracingworld.com in a phone call. “The second lap was going OK, but I was having a hard time all weekend getting the bike to steer and get the drive out of three and into four at the same time. I ended up going into four a little too deep and I lost the front. Once it tucked, of course you fall on your head and I was just cussing at myself then, but at the time Ryan Gordon was right on my tail and he just hit me right square in the back. Of course, there was nothing he could do and after that everything was a blur for a little while.”
Shockley, who had won the Heavyweight Twins Superbike race earlier in the day, suffered eight broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a broken wrist from the incident.
“He (Gordon) hit the pavement pretty hard and was apparently knocked out for a second or two, but as everybody tells me, he came to and pulled me off the racetrack,” said Shockley. “They didn’t stop the race and I was right there at the edge of the track, and he really went out of his way to make sure I was OK.
“I was having trouble with turn four all day, so I wasn’t a total shock to me that I went down there.”
Shockley was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah, Georgia, where he was treated for his collapsed lung. “There were problems at that hospital with their orthopedic surgeon. They didn’t want to do anything operation wise until they got my lung settled, which they put a tube in and drained,” recalled Shockley. “That went on from Sunday until Wednesday, but by that time I had already gotten a little aggravated with them and I knew I would be going home soon. They had a splint on my arm so I decided to wait until I got home to go see my own orthopedic guy.
“Other than that, the care at the hospital was pretty good–the morphine was great. I tell you what, once they quit giving me that morphine is when I realized all the other little places that hurt,” joked Shockley.
Shockley returned home to Greenville, South Carolina this past Saturday, March 26th, and saw his orthopedic doctor regarding the wrist, as well as a lung specialist Tuesday, March 29th.
“I’m obviously sore as all get up, but overall I’m feeling good, just trying not to push it too hard,” Shockley said. “I just want to make sure everything is well healed, but I think I can make it back in a couple months. That’s my goal, anyway.”
People wanting to wish Frank well can contact him at: fast frank@charter.net.