Breaking News: Justin Barcia Out of Supercross for Thumb Surgery 3

Vital MX - After last night's race, we heard there was a possibility that Justin Barcia would have to pull out of the 2016 Supercross series to have surgery on his thumb in which he injured before Anaheim 1. Now we've got confirmation, get well soon Justin!​

"Justin Barcia will be out of the Monster Energy Supercross series indefinitely due to thumb injury. The injury has hindered him in the first two races causing him to get results far less than anticipated. Justin had decided to skip any pres-eason races overseas to allow for him to come into the 2016 season more prepared than ever, and he was arguably in the best shape of his career when he came to California to complete testing for the series opener in Anaheim. In the week leading up to Anaheim Justin sustained an injury to his thumb/hand region. Initially Justin didn’t think too much of the injury, but the following day due to swelling and bruising it was clear that the thumb would require treatment.  Justin consulted with Dr. Steve Navarro who took x-rays and was able to confirm that the bones of the thumb and hand were in fact not injured and any injury had to have occurred to the soft tissues. Following therapy and reduction of the swelling Justin reported feeling improvement and felt he would be fine to line up at Anaheim. Throughout the day at Anaheim Justin felt discomfort, but didn’t feel that he was significantly hindered by his thumb until the main event.

The rigors of a 20 lap main event caused Justin to have difficulty holding on and he developed “the worst arm pump of my life”. When Justin attempted to ride during the following week he again felt considerable pain and discomfort. He had an MRI performed where it was found that Justin had in fact torn his Ulnar Collateral Ligament (Skier’s Thumb). He wanted to make another attempt to race through the pain, but yet again struggling through the main event of San Diego proved to be too much and hindered Justin from battling for a top position.  After consulting with his team of doctors it was decided that Justin would have surgery immediately in order to get back to competing as soon as possible. Justin will have surgery this week and at an appropriate time will begin an aggressive rehab program which should allow him to re-join the Supercross series in the latter part of the season. Justin has reported feeling anger, frustration and disappointment throughout this process, but has had to accept that surgery will be his only option to get back to 100% and competing for finishes that he knows he is capable of achieving. Justin wishes to thank his team, sponsors and all his fans for their support through this process as he eagerly awaits putting this process behind him and getting back to racing."