Latvian operation takes on different meaning for Boog

When one hears that a motocross racer made a courtesy visit to the local emergency section on a race weekend, the news is not entirely unexpected. If our report heading read something like "Boog in hospital after Latvian GP qualifying," the conservative grannies among our readers would nod sagely. "We told you it's a jolly dangerous sport," we could hear the reprimand in our imaginary scenario. "That nice young man should rather take up championship origami or something equally safe." But no, this time you're wrong. Xavier Boog's closer acquaintance with the Latvian medical fraternity has nothing at all to do with him being flung off his bike into the scenery, but more about that in a paragraph or so. The Frenchman was keen as anything on displaying his sand skills and to defend - and possibly improve on - his sixth position standing in the world series. Having visited the track before, and with his reputation as one of the better French exponents of sandy conditions, his confidence was not misplaced. The Alsatian gave as good as he predicted in he pre-qualifying session by posting the second fastest time, just behind championship leader Marvin Musquin. He further underlined his prowess by finishing in a strong fourth place in the qualifying race. With the qualifying formalities behind him, Xavier was poised for a good night's rest and to come out of his corner swinging on race day. Matters turned out somewhat differently for him, though. Some severe stomach pains bent him over double, and it was soon clear that this was in no way ascrobable to his father's cooking. He was rushed to the hospital in Riga, and the doctors diagnosed appendicitis and peritonitis. Those are pretty big words in motocross parlance, but it basically meant that the doctor unsheathed his scalpel immediately and performed the necessary surgery. Speaking to father Olivier after the procedure, we found out that the operation had been successful and that Xavier was resting well. The medical calamity does mean that he will miss at least the Swedish GP as well, which much to his disgust will play havoc with his world championship standing. By missing the Latvian GP, he has already dropped from sixth to eighth in the world standings, and although disappointed, he realizes that there is absolutely nothing that could be done about this. We will report further on Xavier's re-entry into the world championship series as news becomes available. RESULTS: All GP results are available on the official website of the motocross world championships.       XAVIER AND TEAM BACK IN THE DAYS WHEN HE WAS STILL FULLY APPENDIXED (Pic - Steve Bauerschmidt)

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