Priest plots return to track

Priest, 21, damaged his bladder, rectum, ankle, pelvis and elbow after a jammed throttle hurled him under the safety fencing at Stoke.

The rider from Harley, near Much Wenlock, spent nearly three months in hospital - much of it in intensive care.

Yet he is already planning a return to action.

"I'd love to say I could get back on a bike in the summer," said Priest last night before a fundraising evening at Wattlesborough, near Shrewsbury.

"I've already been and bought quite a few new bits to start building my new bikes.

"I can't get in the workshop myself just yet - but positive thinking is what I've been doing."

Priest still cannot recall the events of the crash, although friends and family have helped him piece it together.

"My throttle actually stuck open and it was just coincidental that a guy fell off in front of me at the same time," he said.

Paradoxically the extent of his injuries make him even keener on returning to the sport.

"If anything it makes me more determined because I couldn't have had a much worse crash," he said.

"The injuries I've had, the things I've gone through and still have to go through for the rest of my life are not going to put me off.

"It's been as much of a strain for my family as for me,"said Priest, who rode for Wolves' Conference League team in 2003.

"I've made really good progress and I'm doing 'normal' things that some of my friends are doing.

"I'm coping, I'm going to physio and I'm driving," he added, although the last activity saw him write off his beloved Mini Cooper.

"I've still got a broken ankle. There's a bone in there struggling to heal at the moment.

"But it's getting there and the muscles are starting to work OK.

"But it's still a long way to go. I've still got more operations to come."

Wolves legend Sam Ermolenko and fellow former world champion Peter Collins entertained a big audience at Wattlesborough Village Hall last night with reminiscences about their riding careers.

Among those attending were former Wolves riders Graham Jones and Wayne Broadhurst.

The amount raised at the event, organised by motor-cycle sport enthusiasts group Moto Heritage, is still being calculated.

But an auction of mostly speedway and grasstrack memorabilia alone produced £1,175.

Star lot was a Parrys International Wolves 2006 race bib, worn in all the club's matches and signed by a number of riders, which brought £75.