After meeting with his doctors, it was confirmed that Grant Langston did, in fact, break his collarbone.  The likeable South African will be forced to miss at least the next four to six rounds of the AMA Supercross series.  Yamaha will update Grant’s condition and possible return date as Grant moves forward with his recovery and return to the Supercross series.

Racing Lines 1/24/06
By Grant

Hello friends, fans and race enthusiasts,

It’s been awhile since I checked in, so I have to apologize, but in my defense things have been absolutely wide open ever since I returned after my ankle surgery in early November. So, let’s go back a couple of months. In November, I got back to riding. Fortunately I felt that I hadn’t really lost much with taking three weeks off to have my ankle scoped in order to start 2006 off 100% healthy and ready to race. We went to the test track in Corona, CA and felt great within a couple of days, which excited the team as they wanted to do a ton of testing with me as the rest of the team was on the injury list. Villapoto had a broken collarbone, Townley had a damaged liver/spleen, and Adams had a broken femur. So with that, they wanted me to do the majority of the testing which I was quite happy to do, because I got to ride a test bike (almost a full blown race bike) and try every clamp, tire, transmission, suspension…you name it. I got really comfortable on the new aluminum frame ’06 Kawi and got a lot of quality riding time leading up to Christmas. By this point I made my decision to ride the West series as I felt ready for Anaheim 1, despite losing three weeks with the ankle surgery. It was always my intention to ride the West and that’s what I stuck with which suited Mitch Payton as the rest of the team was on the mend. With A1 just around the corner I felt that I was faster, smoother and better prepared than last year and with a new and improved 06 Kawasaki I felt ready and confident.
A1: I don’t want to give you a race report and tell you what happened. Bottom line the track was tough, the whoops were big and I had the speed, but going down on the first lap after Metcalfe crashed right in front of me in the whoops ended my hopes of winning. But knowing every point counts I rode my heart out for a respectable 4th place finish, salvaging 18 valuable points. Going to Phoenix I knew that a better start was crucial as the track was really basic and not much to separate the field. I did just that and got a decent start, but like a beginner I stalled it on the opening lap, dropping back to 19th by the end of lap 1. Furious with myself I once again had to come through the pack and made an aggressive pass on Short on the final lap (it was the only way to pass) to grab a podium finish and gain valuable points.
Coming into A2, I was tired of having to come through the pack week-in and week-out. So we decided to go to the test track on Friday with the race bike and just work on starts for about 30 minutes. I felt confident that my starts would be a whole lot better. It was a Cinderella story …I got good starts in both the heat and the main. I won the heat comfortably, giving me first gate pick for the main. I knew a good start was all I needed, as I was the fastest guy all day (in practice and the heat races). I came out of turn 1 on 3rd passing Short and Alessi by lap 2. After that it was smooth sailing, riding really easy. The hardest part was getting through lapped traffic. Finally I won my first race of the season, and it was the easiest SX win of my life, believe it or not. I just felt so darned comfortable that night.
I look forward to chatting with you guys soon, and thank you for being patient.
Many Thanks, GL