Hurry to miss start of season.

Arena-Essex Speedway rider Paul Hurry is likely to miss the opening matches for the A F Stocktaking Hammers in the Sky Sports Elite League due to his arm injury requiring further surgery.

Hurry initially had an operation on the arm he injured during the latter stages of the 2003 season. A steel rod was inserted in his arm during the operation and since then he had been making good progress. He has been exercising to keep himself fit and slowly building up the strength in the arm and was, in fact, due to start practising on his bike last Sunday.

On Wednesday he put in an engine into his bike in preparation for this first practice session before visiting his surgeon to get the all-clear to start racing again. During that hospital visit he had a couple of x-rays taken and these highlighted that there was still a problem with his arm. Apparently the bone had pulled away from the rod instead of knitting to it. This was devastating news for the rider, who was scheduled to re-join the club he had originally started his career with at the age of sixteen, as it appeared likely that he would be forced out of racing for a fairly long period of time.

Paul decided to obtain a second opinion on the extent of the injury and, therefore, arranged to see another surgeon. This surgeon had previously dealt with Kelvin Tatum, another A F Stocktaking Hammer, and this surgeon suggested that he would have to operate on Paul to remove the original steel rod and insert a plate in its place. This operation took place today (Monday) and if successful it could result in a much earlier return to the track for the Kent based rider.

He could be able to take his place in the Hammers side as early as April but the Arena-Essex Promoter, Ronnie Russell, has already contingency plans in place to cover the possible absence until he is ready to take his place in the team.

With the season due to start for the Hammers on Saturday 20th March, when they visit Eastbourne, Ronnie Russell is well aware that Paul Hurry is likely to miss that match together with possibly several other matches including the visit of the 2003 Sky Sports Elite League Champions, the Poole Pirates, on Monday 29th March.