Jake Dixon encounters fresh physical concern at UK WorldSBK

Jake Dixon finally completed a WorldSBK weekend at Donington after five months of injury setbacks in his rookie year, but he ran into fresh physical concerns.

Dixon had missed almost the whole 2026 WorldSBK season before Donington after sustaining wrist and hand injuries at the final preseason test of the winter at Phillip Island.

The former Moto2 grand prix winner tried to make his WorldSBK debut at Aragon and was able to finish Race 1 despite a crash in practice, but pulled out of the weekend after the first race and also skipped the Misano weekend two weeks later in order to focus on his recovery.

Dixon made his second attempt at a WorldSBK race weekend at Donington (10–12 July), and was pleased with the condition of his left wrist.

“This is good,” Jake Dixon said after Race 2 at Donington.

“Actually, I’m really happy with how this has felt. This has been a big step. 

“But I’ve had five weeks from Aragon to here. So, that was a positive, that’s one positive from it.”

But there was a new concern about Dixon’s physical condition related to his right arm.

“After Warm Up, I was nearly sick in my helmet,” Dixon said.

“I don’t know whether I’ve got a trapped nerve in my arm or something, but the pain that I was in… 

“It actually sounds ridiculous, but I was actually in tears before the Superpole Race because I was in that much pain. 

“Clinica [Mobile] helped me, they gave me some medication to get through today. 

“It’s not helping that the bike’s not easy.”

He added: “I think it’s a trapped nerve or something. It makes my arm go dead, but it’s not just dead it’s like a throb. 

“I said to the guy’s it’s literally a 10-out-of-10 for pain, which indicates it could be a nerve because nerve pain is super-painful.”

The issue is not a complete stranger to Dixon, who says he ran into something similar at the Grand Prix of the Americas in 2025.

“I want to see a doctor, that is for sure,” he said.

“Now, with this time – another time off that I’ve got, I want to continue racing because I’ve been having time off – I’d like to think that I’ll be able to resolve it. 

“I’ve felt something similar before but on a sort of less scale in Moto2 in America last year. I thought it was just a one-off, but now it’s come back and it’s bad, it’s really bad, but it’s what it is.”

“I don’t feel natural”

The time off for Dixon this year has left him out of the rhythm of the season, a season in which he is making his first year as a factory rider for the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, with a new team, in a new championship whose race weekends flow differently compared to grand prix.

Dixon, for example, raced only once per weekend for eight years in Moto2, whereas now his weekend involves three races, one 15 minute qualifying session, and only two full-length practices on a Friday.

Being so fresh to a WorldSBK weekend, Dixon still didn’t feel at Donington like he belonged at the track on a race weekend.

“I said to the boys today, all over the weekend, last night, that I feel out of sync, like very much not used to how a weekend works, timings of how a weekend works,” he said.

“It feels a bit odd to me. I don’t feel natural, I feel almost like an intruder of being here at the minute. 

“I don’t feel like I belong here because I’m so new. It’s difficult. 

“I hate finishing where I’m finishing. It’s shit. 

“The situation is so bad right now. I’m not going to beat around the bush, it’s so bad, but that’s where we are, that’s how it is.”