Sam Gaynor Injury/Recovery Update

By Billy Rainford

Sam Gaynor. | Bigwave photo

Canadian pro motocross racer #28 Sam Gaynor from Erin, Ontario, has sort of been through the wringer with his wrist injury. Back in April of 2022, Sam crashed at Club MX in Chesterfield, SC while preparing for the upcoming Canadian Triple Crown Series MX Nationals, breaking his scaphoid bone. As we all remember, this was the injury that ended the illustrious career of Ricky Johnson back in the late 1980’s.

Surgery has improved over the years, but this seemingly innocuous injury is still one of the ones that plagues racers to this day.

Sam tried to ride through the pain but decided to take surgical steps in March of 2024 where they took parts from his leg and attached them into his wrist.

** Warning: Graphic surgical images **

Sam tried to ride after the required recovery, which is said to be between 3-8 months, but the pain was still there. It kept him from riding the 450 class in 2024, but he still defended his title successfully in the FXR PreMix class.

It was decided that they would try the surgery again and so he went under the knife at Toronto Western Hospital a couple weeks ago on October 25th. This time, they took parts from his other leg and transplanted them into his wrist.

The surgery took 8 1/2 hours and the doctor said the surgery was much harder than he was hoping, but that he was happy with the end result.

Sam added: “Wrist is good. Just had my 2 week post-op check-up this morning and everything is looking good. The screw and wire are still in place and haven’t moved which is a good sign. My leg is pretty sore as they had to take a bigger piece of bone from my femur than last surgery. They also had to cut the muscle off my femur to get to it better, so the healing for that will be a bit longer. I’ve been off the crutch for a few days now. Overall, doing pretty good! Just bored.”

Sam now has matching scars on both legs.

As for recovery time, Sam summed it up like this: “3 months of doing absolutely nothing. Not allowed to elevate heat rate etc. as they also did a vein and artery graft from my leg, so they don’t want it to burst if I get my heart rate up.

“This surgery before me had been done somewhere between 50-60 times in the world, and I’ve had the same surgery twice now!“

As for the future, Sam says: “The plan is to be back racing in the 450 class! We have lots going on with the AVL Racing team which is exciting and I’m looking forward to round 1 permitting everything heals as it’s supposed to! As for work, I was doing some carpentry as well as my own little business “80 Grit Woodworking” before surgery but I am now off work until my wrist is fully healed.”

Thanks for the update, Sam. See you on the track in the spring!