Mick Doohan calls police, has operation
 

Mick Doohan definitely won't race again this year - but the world champ has yet to decide whether he is now a retired motorcycle racer.

Last Friday the Aussie underwent yet another operation in San Francisco, where doctors removed pins and plates from the right leg he broke at Jerez in May and repaired ligament damage to his left knee.

"The surgeons took the hardware out of the right leg I broke at Jerez and added a bone graft around the break site to help along the healing process," said Doohan. "The guys reckoned there was too much metal in there around both sides of the bone, they thought that was causing a few problems, so they pulled it out. The other knee needed fixing for some ligament problems. I did my cruciate ligament a few years ago and then I did the posterior ligament when I crashed at Jerez, so the whole knee was pretty unstable, it had got to a point where they had to fix them. The knee was the main reason I've been limping so much. They fixed me up with some donor ligaments, I guess it was pretty major surgery."

Now recuperating at a hotel, Doohan won't be strong enough to race in the season-ending Rio and Argentine GPs.

Paddock rumors abound that the reigning 500 king will soon announce his retirement, even though Doohan vowed to the Australian GP crowd that he would be back racing in 2000.

Before returning the States last week, Doohan visited Australian police last week to discuss a merchandising scam in Doohan memorabilia. Melbourne police had earlier raided a local home to seize a consignment of photos signed with forged Doohan signatures. Police inquiries are continuing. ENDS