AutoTrader.com/Monster Energy/JGR Yamaha’s Justin Barcia announced today that he has elected to undergo surgery on his injured thumb and will be sidelined indefinitely.
According to a post on his Instagram account, Barcia said he sustained the injury prior to the season opener at Anaheim.
“I injured my hand the week before A1 and will undergo surgery this week it’s a tough pill to swallow with how hard I worked this year and was ready to be in the mix for race wins I tried to race but it’s just not realistic with how bad the pain is.”
After a disappointing start to the season at Anaheim, where he ran up front before falling back to fifteenth due to a crash and arm pump, Barcia underwent an MRI where it was determined he had torn his Ulnar Collateral Ligament (Skier’s Thumb), according to what Barcia told Vital MX, which was the first source to report the news.
Barcia sought Racer X out during Saturday morning’s San Diego track walk to explain that his struggle last weekend was due to the thumb, saying he crashed Monday before Anaheim and could barely hold on at the opener. “The thumb’s not good,” he told us.
Barcia rode through the pain this weekend at Round 2 in San Diego finishing eleventh.
We contacted the team today and they confirmed that the decision to either ride through pain or get surgery was put into Barcia’s hands, and he has decided to go through with the procedure. There’s no exact timetable for a return, but there are hopes Barcia will return later in the Monster Energy Supercross season.
Barcia missed eight rounds of the supercross season last year due to a pelvic injury before returning late in the season.
Phil Nicoletti, who fill-in for the suspended Weston Peick this weekend and finished twenty-first, is expected to take Barcia’s position on the team until he returns.
