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Jim said about the injury "I came off my quad the week before Christmas and I damaged my knee and my leg. I got it X-rayed and it didn't look too good so I went back last Wednesday and it's confirmed I've go a fracture at the top of my ankle and ligament damage to my knee. When it first happened I went into hiding, hoped it wasn't quite as bad as it first looked. This couldn't have come at a worse time, as I was just on the verge of getting things sorted for the new season and it's now put a spanner in the works at best. Not only for my pre-season preparation, but for the plans I had for the team I was looking to be riding for. 2003 was the first year in three years that I was injury free and to now to start this pre-season with an injury is a massive set back. I'm not sure where I stand at the moment and I'm looking at re-accessing the situation around mid February. We really need a green light now and to be honest, at best, its amber. We really need that green light to get things started and the problem I have at the moment is I have key sponsors and an engine tuner on hold and these key people are on the phone wanting to know what's happening".
After the accident Jim is still managing to train, especially upper body training. Jim said "the legs definitely a restriction but I can still manage to train most days" As for the immediate future he hopes he will not be needing surgery but it's not out of the question. "The situation will need to be continually assessed in the next few weeks, but I'm more realistic about the accident now than I was three weeks ago when I was hoping at first it was a sprained ankle. Yes, three weeks ago I was telling myself I had a sprained ankle and now I know it's a fracture of my leg, so there will be some recovery time at best. Jim went onto explain about the knee ligament damage saying "it's not actually the ligament that's torn, it's the bone that's attached to the ligament that's torn away, if that's not bad enough.
Jim wouldn't elaborate too much on the proposed team but he did say it was bike that was capable of winning the championship and that was his main concern for the coming year. He added that he had all the key ingredients in place to provide him with that bike. "From the end of the season I wasn't 100% sure what Jack's (Valentine) plans were so I was looking around just to keep my options open when this opportunity started to gather momentum at the end of November. Jack came on hinting that there could be a budget problem with Triumph, so it seemed like a logical way out for me to look at the other avenues, allowing Craig to stay where he was, building the team around him".
Jim went on to give his views on how he thought the Triumph would perform this coming season, although he thought it would be difficult to answer. "I think it will be an awful lot better that it was last year, 2003. Less than a month after the end of the season they had found a fair bit more power, probably an extra 10 more horse power. The bike will probably be ten kilos lighter, because it wasn't on the weight limit for last year and the weight limit rule is now 5 kilos lighter for this year, 2004. Yeh, the bike should be about ten kilos lighter with more power, so it should be a lot better". Jim went onto answer if the bike would win saying that on a level playing field the bike could still struggle to win a race. Jim added "all be it, it's a very good bike for Triumphs first attempt at racing a supersport bike. For a company that hasn't competed in racing for 30 years and hasn't built a 600 race bike probably ever, their first attempt was a good attempt. But you've got to remember that Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki have been building 600 supersport race bikes for years. So, as for a first attempt it's excellent, but there's still work to be done".
Jim went onto comment about his first official step into management. He said "since I officially agreed to do it with Sean I put a lot of work into it, a lot of effort into it. I did it as best I could as if I was doing it for myself. Between Sean's efforts and my efforts we secured him probably the most lucrative deal with the view to winning the championship in 2004. Now that it's getting about I've been inundated with requests from different riders wanting me to assist and help them. Up until now I've resisted
doing anything else with anyone else officially, although I've done a bit behind the scene with some people that have phoned me. I've agreed that I would help them but not officially. Like John McGuinness, John's not official but he's more official than the rest.
What's next for Jim Moodie………stay tuned.
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