American racer Kenny Noyes seriously injured at CEV Superbike round

American racer and current reigning FIM CEV Repsol Superbike champion Kenny Noyes was seriously injured in a crash during warm-up practice prior to the fourth round of the Spanish CEV championship at Motorland Aragon in Spain. According to reports from the team and various Spanish racing websites, Noyes suffered a serious head injury when he fell in Turn 8 and the bike ended up bouncing off the trackside barrier and back into him as he was sliding off the track. Noyes was knocked unconscious in the accident, and was quickly airlifted to the Hospital of Zaragoza where he was put into a medically induced coma after examinations revealed he suffered a cranial fracture and some internal bleeding. Doctors determined that the resulting blood clot would not require surgery as there wasn't excess pressure and it was felt that the clot would dissolve on its own. Noyes was reportedly moving limbs in response to stimuli, and his last condition was listed as stable; reports are that he will remain in the medically induced coma until tomorrow.

The 36-year-old Noyes is the son of American former racer/now veteran motojournalist Dennis Noyes, and was born in Barcelona and then raised in the mountain village of Miraflores de la Sierra north of Madrid. He began riding motocross at the age of four, but then came with his family when they moved to southern California at the age of 14. He soon transitioned to dirt-track, and graduated through the hard-scrabble ranks of the famed Lodi Cycle Bowl to win the inaugural Formula USA Pro Singles National Dirt Track Championship in 2000, beating the likes of AMA Grand National stars Bryan Smith and J.R. Schnabel. He then eventually transitioned to roadracing, signing with the BQR team based in Barcelona for the highly competitive Spanish CEV championship. He won the Spanish Superstock 1000cc championship in 2003, and after some near-misses at the Spanish superbike title, was signed to ride the inaugural Moto2 class in 2010 by the Jack & Jones team sponsored by movie star Antonio Banderas. Noyes battled at the front of the first few races, and qualified on pole for the Le Mans round.

He returned to the Spanish CEV Moto2 championship in 2012, racing for his current Palmeto PL Racing team. After changing teams in the CEV Moto2 series in 2013, he switched back to the Palmeto PL Racing team for 2014, and after a nail-biting finale at Valencia, won the FIM CEV Repsol Superbike championship.