Ian Hutchinson feared to have broken leg again

UPDATE 09:56am, 02/02/2012: It has been confirmed that Hutchinson has indeed broken his leg – both his tibia and fibula have been fractured and the damaged left leg has been externally fixated (ie put in a metal cage).

It’s not known how long he will be out of action, but the usual recovery time for a tib and fib break is 12-16 weeks which would mean he would miss the beginning of the BSB season. Here’s hoping it’s a simple break and he heals at the super-human rate of most racers…

UPDATE 15:37: Hutchy has arrived at Coventry hospital where he will see the specialist surgeon who previously operated on his horribly injured left leg. It’s still not clear how bad the latest injury is.
 
UPDATE 15:37: Three times British Superbike champion, factory GP rider and all-round good egg Niall Mackenzie has confirmed he will stand in for Hutchy at the MCN Revolution Show which starts tomorrow.

ORIGINAL STORY: Eight-times Isle of Man TT winner Ian Hutchinson is feared to have broken his leg this morning during a rehearsal for the Carole Nash MCN Motorcycle show at Excel in London.

According to eye-witnesses Hutchinson didn’t crash; he merely twisted his leg awkwardly while riding an off-road bike during practice for the stunt show.

The leg is the same one he spent more than a year recovering from after being run over by another bike at Silverstone in 2010; months after he took an historic five TT wins in a week.

Since the crash Hutchinson has undergone 16 operations to fix his tibia and fibula and had to wear an external cage to hold the bones in place while they healed. He recently signed a new contract to ride for the Swan Yamaha British Superbike team and also to ride a Yamaha on the roads.

An eye-witness said: “He didn’t crash, he appeared to tweak his leg and that was apparently enough to break it. It’s not confirmed what is wrong with him at the moment. He was clearly in an enormous amount of pain though.”

We will update this story as it happens.