A BARNSLEY motorbike racer has won a race - just six weeks after suffering life-threatening injuries in a horror crash.
Adam Sheriff and his son Kaine both entered the pre-electronic injection class race at Darley Moor in Ashbourne.
Adam won the race and achieved the two fastest laps which was a dramatic upturn in his fortunes after a difficult start to the year.
Adam said: “Things all went very wrong at the start of the year for me - I planned to do a full year of racing, but I had to get a new bike after the engine blew up. When that was all sorted out, I was doing well. I was getting second and third place in the races I was doing, then I had a bad crash on my bike about six weeks ago now.
“I broke my breast bone and eight ribs and one of them actually punctured my lung and led to it collapsing.”
“It was touch and go whether I’d even make it to the hospital because of the collapsed lung.”
Despite the serious injuries he sustained, Adam wasn’t deterred and having made a full recovery, he was back on his bike and racing competitively at the weekend.
Adam said: “It was my first time back racing, I just wanted to get straight back to it. I was nervous about it, getting on the bike again, but when the flag dropped, the adrenaline kicked in.”
It’s not the first time that Adam has faced challenges with his racing - he has a disability affecting his right arm, stopping him from using the front, right brake.
He said: “I can’t ride while using the front, right brake, I have to use it all on the left because of my arm, I actually use my left thumb to brake - I designed it for the bike myself to help me out, so I could still ride.”
Adam had his son, Kaine racing alongside him during his first race back after his recovery.
He said: “My son was racing, too, and he managed to come second and third.
He’s actually my sponsor too, so it was nice to have KBS Racing’s support.”
