A doctor who lost control of his motorcycle at high speed on a race track had given up using roads – because they were too dangerous.
Nick Henry’s mother Susan told an inquest that he had stopped riding his motorcycle on the roads.
Dr Henry, a much-loved 36-year-old GP, died weeks after the accident on the race track at Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire, on May 28 last year.
The resumed inquest at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court heard the separated father-of-two was an experienced rider.
The court heard Yorkshire Air Ambulance flew him for emergency treatment at Hull Royal Infirmary.
He had suffered an extremely complicated fracture and dislocation of his left hip and had also broken his right collarbone.
But although the surgery proved a success and he was quickly discharged after less than a week, his recovery proved a painful one.
And just weeks after leaving the hospital he was raced to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary on July 28 when his partner Sarah Wood found he had fainted at his mother’s Huddersfield home.
That afternoon he suffered a prolonged cardiac arrest lasting two hours.
Assistant deputy coroner Mary Burke said despite the efforts of medics they were unable to save his life and he died on July 30.
Mrs Henry, of Gledholt Road, Huddersfield, was asked by Ms Burke what her son’s experience of motorcycles was.
She replied that he had enjoyed riding motorbikes for at least 15 years and he and his brother Alex shared a powerful Kawasaki motorcycle capable of 120mph.
She said: “He and his brother decided roads were too dangerous so they used it for track dates.”
And she joked: “They went out together and shared the bike. They have always been joined at the hip and shared everything – apart from ladies.
“He was in hospital for just short of a week. They did a magnificent job.
“My son was the most spectacular stoic you can imagine. He never complained. He was lovely.
“He was positive and happy with Sarah. He was looking for another job, getting divorced from his wife and looking to move on.”
The court heard in a statement from Dr Gavin O’Neill, an emergency medicine consultant at Hull Royal Infirmary, that Dr Henry had been thrown off his bike at a corner at a speed of 80mph and landed on his left side.
When he returned to Huddersfield he was in regular contact with local medics.
The inquest heard he was in a great deal of pain and couldn’t move about easily while breathing was painful and he suffered chest pains.
But despite his mother’s concerns about pulmonary embolisms, her son mistakenly reassured her that the pain was “muscular, skeletal”.
In a statement, Pc Stewart Cooke, of Lincolnshire Police, said Dr Henry was riding with an intermediate group at the time of the accident and was riding alone when he lost control of the bike.
Pc Cooke said he had ‘highsided’ – this is when the rear wheel loses traction, skids, and then suddenly regains traction, creating a large torque which flips the rider head first off the road.
Mrs Henry said her son had recounted the experience to her afterwards.
She said: “He described being ‘flicked off’ and being flown thrown through the air. He said he had always wondered what it was like to fly and he found out.”
Ms Burke recorded a narrative conclusion. She said the cause of death was hypoxic brain injury.
The fracture to his left neck and femur had significantly contributed to his death.
Afterwards, Mrs Henry said she had been grateful for all the kind words and condolences given to her family following her son’s death.
She said: “We will treasure these kind words for ever and share them with his sons when we are able.”
