Kato keeps fighting, but career over.

Over three days after his horrific accident at the Japanese Grand Prix, Daijiro Kato is showing signs that he can achieve what Dr. Claudio Costa of the Clinica Mobile called 'impossible' - survival.

This is Dr. Costa's medical description of the factory Honda rider's sickening injuries when he arrived in Hospital on Sunday:

"Deep coma, serious brain injuries with extensive haemorrhaging that worsens towards the base and the brain stem. Dislocation of the 1st and 2nd cervical vertebrae with fracturing of the 3rd and, consequently, devastating damage to the spinal chord. Numerous shoulder and upper limb fractures," Costa wrote on clinicamobile.com.

"Yet such an atrocious, cold diagnosis requires something non-scientific to counterbalance it, something exquisitely human: the irrational line of reasoning that promises us there is still hope even though the rider is in a deep coma.

"Yes, hope. (Wednesday) morning, Daijiro Kato, despite his terrible injuries, improved a little, demonstrating that despite his miniscule physique, this Japanese rider has an inner strength that allows him to fight the impossible.

"When riders accelerate onto the race track they play a game of chess with death, doing so because they possess a soul - just like all those other motorcyclists who, whether on the race track or the road, ride their bikes in search of a better world, a world of infinite freedom."

Costa's emotional words were in stark contrast to the brief statement made by Honda spokesman Yoshio Ito yesterday, but the meaning was the same - the 26 year old is making progress, very slight progress, but progress nonetheless.

"Kato remains unconscious but he is in a condition which is not expected to become life-threatening," said Ito.

"His blood pressure rose as high as 150 and his pulse as high as 100," Daijiro's father, Takahashi Kato, told the Tokyo Chunichi Sports newspaper. "If he keeps on improving at this rate, blood will begin circulating in the damaged part of the head."

The medical staff have stressed the battle Kato's facing now is for his life. Given the spinal and other injuries described by Costa, there is - tragically - no chance of the #74, pictured just before his accident on lap 3, racing a motorcycle again.

Kato will now never take his much predicted first MotoGP class victory - a win that would have been his 18th, in total, at GP level.

Instead, the fight ahead for Daijiro, who recently became a father for the second time, will doubtless be the biggest and most important he has ever faced, but hope, as Dr. Coasta emphasised, remains.

Kato's accident has raised questions about the safety of the Suzuka circuit, his treatment by the marshals at the scene and the decision not to red flag the race. All issues to be addressed following a thorough investigation - which must surely follow.