Toseland announces retirement from racing after wrist injury - MotoGP news - AUTOSPORT.com
Sad day, not been the best three years for James. Only 31 and retiring.
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Toseland announces retirement from racing after wrist injury - MotoGP news - AUTOSPORT.com
Sad day, not been the best three years for James. Only 31 and retiring.
It's a mighty shame, although with tricky injuries of the kind he suffered there is always the possibility that it'll get complicated. It didn't help that the second WSB race last weekend was run in fairly stupid conditions and he crashed out which must've aggravated it.
Looking back at what I have seen of his career and what I've researched about the rest of it, it's easy to forget that he got into world championship racing fairly quickly - he did two years in WSS when he wasn't even 18 and only had a single year in BSB after that before coming to WSB with GSE so he was up against it in terms of the learning curve at all times which explains the development through his 2001-3 seasons. The 2004 title was hard-won against Regis Laconi, Nori and CV of course (although the field behind that wasn't the deepest) and of course he did it at the final round by outdoing Regis in front of his home crowd. He beat a quality field, including one T. Bayliss, in 2007 with Ten Kate to prove the 2004 title was no fluke. He was always a gritty rider which got him the results, whilst maybe not being the out-and-out fastest over one lap (which is why didn't rack up many poles or fastest laps along the way). MotoGP is obviously a tricky one and you can draw your own conclusions on his two years there, but I think he did alright there on the whole all things considered. I can't quite work out what happened last year with Yamaha's superbike - they traditionally struggle with tyres early on in the season but he did get four early podiums and was in victory contention at Assen both times and Monza (race 1) before it all fell away after the first-corner pileup at Monza in race two [whilst Cal's season picked up on the other bike]. There is nothing to be said about this season with BMW, sadly.
Overall, a great champion who'll be missed from the grid. All I can hope is that he gets the wrist sorted and can enjoy a normal life away from the track.
That really is a terrible shame. He's been a terrific rider and it's a shame to see his career cut short by injury - wrists are nasty things to heal. It's easy to forget he's a two-time World Superbike champion after his recent struggles. He was always humble and gracious in victory or defeat and I had a lot of time for him. Hopefully his wrist heals up and is pain free for normal day use. Congrats on a great career JT.
A good interview with JT, done pre-Nurburgring, here at Superbike Planet:
Soup :: SuperBikePlanet.com Interview: James Toseland :: 09-12-2011