TT star Keith Amor 'agonised' over retirement decision
Monday 30 January 2012
TT
Popular Isle of Man TT racer Keith Amor said he agonised for months over his decision to quit road racing.
The Scot, who raced for the Honda TT Legends team in 2011, has confirmed his retirement, saying serious shoulder injuries suffered last year have forced him.
The injuries have failed to respond to treatment despite surgery.
The 39-year-old said:
“I’ve decided to retire.”
“My decision has been a hard one and one I have agonised over for the last few months.”
Amor, from Falkirk, scored five podiums at the TT, including a second place in last year’s opening Supersport Race and second overall in the 2011 TT Championship. However, it was two crashes in the Island last June that spelt the beginning of the end for his career.
A practice crash at Quarterbridge was followed by another fall just down the road at Union Mills in the second Supersport TT. Amor suffered a serious injury to his right shoulder in the falls, which was aggravated by another crash at Leathemstown during the Ulster Grand Prix in August.
Amor explained:
“I had three crashes last year and they left me in a lot of pain.”
“I had major surgery to both shoulders in November, with the right having to be totally reconstructed and the ligaments tightened in the left as well. I had a MRI scan to check if the ops have been successful, but the doc said it hadn’t healed and I would need further surgery.”
“So that’s me done with racing.”
This time last year Amor was announced as teammate to John McGuinness in the ‘works’ Honda TT Legends squad to campaign on the roads and in the FIM World Endurance Championship.
He continued to race with his damaged shoulders after June in both the endurance series and at the Ulster GP, but the experience of racing while not properly fit has helped him make up his mind to quit.
He said:
“I was injured all of last year and I am not going to ride in that condition again. I am in racing to win and I want to be competitive, not just be out there to make up the numbers.”
Despite retirement, Amor’s future is bright – he has set up home in Cyprus, go engaged to girlfriend Charlie over Christmas and has announced the couple are expecting their first child.
Amor added:
“I will be 40 this year and I have done a lot in racing in a short time.”
“I started my career in 2001 at Knockhill with an orange bib at a Kirkcaldy club meeting as a novice and ended it 10 years later as a member of Honda Europe’s TT Legends team.”
“I didn't race any roads at all until 2005 and I only went full-time in 2007. A lot of hard work went into getting here for it all to go wrong like this, but everything changed with a simple twist of fate.”
Isle of Man Government TT and Motorsport Manager Paul Philips said:
“Despite his late start to TT Racing Keith has had a great career. People often forget that he only began racing on the Mountain Course in 2007 and was a whisker away from Steve Plater as fastest newcomer lap that year.”
“He finished on the podium in his second year and went on to claim at least one podium a year every year since. He quickly established himself as one of the leading TT riders and he was a great teammate to John McGuinness last year.”
“I have no doubt that had he continued to race at the TT fully fit, he would have won races and he is a popular figure who will always be welcome on the Isle of Man.”