Back in Belgium, the five time World champion consulted with Dr. Claes, famous for his knee surgery and work with other motocross riders. After medical examinations, it has been determined that the 36 year old veteran damaged his knee cap and fractured the top part of his tibia. Extensive swelling means that corrective surgery cannot be carried out until the weekend.
Smets, who has recently been considering retirement after a glorious career and the most 500cc victories in the history of the sport, is looking at a six month recovery period before he can consider racing again.
Smets is likely having a bad deja vu. In the 2004 season he tore his right ACL during the International pre-season race in Italy (Mantova), and then suffered a life-threatening bacterial blood infection after corrective surgery. Smets may very well be leaning more toward retirement after his most recent injury.
