Injured Wolves rider Joe Haines is to spend several months in a ‘halo’ head brace following his terrifying crash at Rye House.

The club number eight will undergo an operation, but Wolves management are just relieved the 17-year-old did not come off even worse.

Club owner Chris Van Straaten said: “He’s got to have one of these halos fitted for about four months. There’s a bone that connects the skull to the vertebrae and that’s been displaced.

“So there’s an operation and the initial diagnosis is that he has to keep this halo on for four months.

The accident, during a world under-21 qualifying round, happened on Sunday – just three days before Haines was due to compete in the British Final at Poole.