5 Minutes With ... Nick Wey
MDK Motorsports Nick Wey has had a lot of highs and lows in the last few weeks. After his solid third-place finish at Anaheim 2, he was disqualified for having illegal fuel, then he finished fifth in San Francisco, fourth at A3 and then dislocated his thumb in Houston. Then he got his AMA points back, his wife Nicole gave birth to their first child last Saturday in California, and finally he had thumb surgery yesterday… Been quite a year already for Nick Wey!
Racer X: Nick, what’s congratulations on becoming a father!
Nick Wey: Yeah, I’ve been looking forward to it for a while, and it’s exciting just to see her. She’s doing really good.
And her name is Ava Marie?
Yep.
You named her after one of Christopher Columbus’ ships?[Laughs] No, actually there wasn’t any inspiration there.
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She’s doing really well.
Are you getting any sleep?
Well, she’s been doing well the past few nights, but for the first couple she was struggling there.
I understand that wasn’t your only visit to the hospital in the past few weeks.
Yeah. Since my crash in Houston I’ve been doing therapy pretty much around the clock, trying to get it to heal up on its own. I tried to ride a little bit on Tuesday, in hopes that I could come back and ride St. Louis and still not be too far back in the points to where I can reach some of the goals I set forth. But after riding I realized there was no way that I could even attempt it. So, I figured that the best move was to go back to the doctor and get it further evaluated and see what exactly was wrong with it. So, I went and there was more wrong with it than I first thought, and I went in to surgery that night and that was the night before last.
Well, what did they find out?
It’s kind of a really long name, but I guess it’s just called a “Gamekeepers” tear. The ligament that goes across to hold your thumb in place was torn, so they had to go in and repair that. So I have a soft cast on right now for a week, and then I have to wear a hard cast for two to three weeks after that.
Do you have a tentative date for coming back?
You know what, I have no idea. Since I did this I feel I’ve been dazed. So if I could be back for after the supercross break and race the last three races, but I’m not sure if that’s a possibility or not.
Well, it’s a good thing that you got to keep that Anaheim trophy that you were holding on to with a Kung Fu grip, because with that thumb, you might not have been able to.[Laughs] Yeah, you’re right.
To be vindicated from the fuel thing, you and the team have to feel happy that the AMA came back and said they understood what went wrong.
Yeah, I think I’d be a little more upset if the fans didn’t have my back on it. If I was perceived as really cheating, then I’d be pretty bummed. But to know that basically everybody knew that I was just running the same gas as everyone else was. The public seemed to think that the AMA made a mistake from the get-go, which ended up being the case. I think it’s pretty big of them to admit the mistake and to give those points back. I appreciate them doing the fair thing.
Well, we miss seeing you out there. It’s always nice to see a guy like you—a true privateer—getting trophies and banging out holeshots.
Yeah, I spent one whole day last week working on my track in hopes that I could ride this week, but that didn’t work out. So, hopefully I’ll heal up fast. I know the team has everything set for me, so I’m just trying to recover and hang out with Ava while I can.
Good luck with the baby and the thumb, Nick.
Thanks DC.
