That was the last thing Tim Gajser was expecting: on the podium after an eye ordeal

Last weekend, the Motocross World Championship marked its impressive return to the iconic British motocross track at Foxhills, near Swindon. For Yamaha MXGP newcomer Tim Gajser, it was a painful few days, although this wasn’t immediately apparent to onlookers.

During qualifying, a plastic fragment from a tear-off visor struck the 29-year-old in the left eye. This foreign object subsequently caused severe pain and severely impaired the five-time world champion’s vision. Following the incident, Gajser had to be treated whilst lying down; a doctor later removed the foreign object from his eye.

Eye numbed and flushed

To do this, the eye was numbed and then rinsed out several times; the Slovenian was also hampered by this during the qualifying race. He missed a rutted section of the track and crashed whilst in 4th place – just as he had caught up with the top three ahead of him and was gaining speed despite the setback. “I rode the race with my vision quite severely restricted,” Gajser admitted.

On Saturday evening, Gajser was seen in the paddock with his left eye bandaged, trying to relax in his motorhome and shield his eye from the light. His second and third-place finishes on Sunday are therefore a remarkable achievement. On Sunday, after both races, Gajser stood on the podium alongside world champion Romain Febvre (Kawasaki) and winner Jeffrey Herlings (Honda), and he now lies fourth in the World Championship standings.

“It feels good to be back on the podium,” said Gajser. “Saturday was difficult, but on Sunday I felt better right from the start. I had the pace and was able to stay with the leaders and put Jeffrey under pressure. In the first race, I got off to a good start and finished second. The second race was similar; I was close again, but made a small mistake and lost a bit of ground. It was still a positive day.”

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