Manx Care has confirmed that one of the riders involved in a serious crash at the Southern 100 on Monday night has been transferred to the Walton Centre for Neurosciences.
The rider, who was airlifted from Noble’s Hospital by Coastguard Search and Rescue Helicopter around 10pm, remains in a critical condition.
Aiden Cleary from Draperstown in Northern Ireland suffered an ankle injury and has since been discharged.
Scariff rider Jacque Foley was involved in the crash but was uninjured. The incident happened at Ballakeighan, the first corner of the 4.25-mile circuit, only minutes into the first session of this week’s event.
The Southern 100, which is set to run until Thursday this week, was set to commence with a practice session at the Colas Billown Circuit in Castletown.
However, the incident happened during the newcomers' sighting laps around 6.30pm, prompted marshals to raise the red flags and suspend racing activities until the incident was cleared.
Practices were due to resume at around 8pm, but organisers were initially forced to delay proceedings due to ‘capacity issues’ at the hospital.
A re-run of the newcomers sighting lap did take place, but shortly after Southern 100 organisers were later forced to scrap Monday night’s practice session entirely. In a statement issued around 9pm, a spokesperson for the Southern 100 said: ‘Due to the ongoing capacity issues at Noble’s Hospital we have been left with no choice but to cancel the practice session this evening.’