Two-times TT winner Steve Plater is still hoping to visit the 2011 Isle of Man fuelled by Monster Energy, despite suffering a broken arm.
The 2009 TT champion was expected to the travel to the Island on Monday to support his Honda TT Legends teammates John McGuinness and Keith Amor.
However, his journey has now been delayed following a racing crash at Thruxton which landed him in hospital.
Plater crashed during Monday’s British Supersport Championship feature race after his Padgetts Honda highsided.
His is due to undergo surgery to plate the fracture in his upper left arm and hopes to be out of hospital soon. He still plans to get to the TT as soon as possible.
Plater missed last year’s TT after suffering injuries in a crash at the North West 200. He later decided not to return to the roads, preferring to concentrate on his World Endurance Championship and British Supersport campaigns.
When Monday’s race got under way in wet conditions, Plater moved up to seventh on the first lap and then progressed to fifth and a race-long tussle with Christian Iddon and a hard-charging Billy McConnell.
On lap 12 McConnell got the best of the group and Plater moved past Iddon. As TV viewers watched Jack Kennedy slide out of second place, unseen at Church Plater had had the mother of all highsides causing Iddon to bail out as well and bringing out the red flags.
Iddon was okay, but the unfortunate Plater suffered a broken upper left arm in the incident.
Steve Plater says: “I have no idea what happened, the bike just highsided for no apparent reason. It’s the same section of the track that Michael Rutter fell so maybe there is a bump in the track that we both hit.”
Plater may not have been able to travel, but the Honda TT Legends team didn’t miss his presence – McGuinness and Amor topped the times during Monday evening’s rain-affected opening practice session.
The second practice session is scheduled for this evening, with the first solo machines expected out at 6.20pm and the sidecar outfits from about 8 p.m.
The Mountain section of the course will close to the public at 5 p.m., with the rest of the course closed by 6pm.
Roads will start re-opening no later than 9.30 p.m., with the Mountain section open one hour later.