Paul Williams crashed after hitting a pheasant at Isle of Man TT: “I’m lucky, if you saw the bike"
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Paul Williams, who crashed after hitting a pheasant at the 2023 Isle of Man TT, has recalled the terror of his crash and admitted he was lucky to be unhurt.
Williams came off his bike on Monday during qualifying for the Supersport class when he collided with the bird - narrowly avoiding disaster.
His bike was destroyed - and so was the pheasant - but Williams walked away from the incident.
"I know I'm lucky,” he told the BBC.
“There wasn't even a scratch on my helmet.
"If you saw the bike you'd be amazed how I am still here.
“The frame has snapped in three places.
"I went into Laurel Bank and there was a pheasant in the middle of the road. I couldn't do anything about it.
"It was walking but when it heard the bike coming it stopped.
"The front wheel made contact with it, took the handlebars off me and I went straight into the wall. The bike was a write-off."
Even without his Triumph 675, Williams returned to the famous course 48 hours later.
"An Irish sponsor has kindly supplied me with a GSX-R600 Suzuki," he revealed!