NICKY HAYDEN TO MISS CZECH GP
Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden will miss this weekend’s
Czech Grand Prix due to a foot injury sustained during a Supermoto
event at the X Games in Los Angeles on August 1. The 2006
MotoGP World Champion injured his right foot when he landed
heavily from a jump.
Following the incident Hayden visited eminent orthopaedic
surgeon Dr Arthur Ting and sought the opinion of other specialists
who finally advised (yesterday afternoon, US time) that he
should rest the injury to avoid further complications and
return at the San Marino GP at the end of the month. The damage
is to the calcaneus, or heel area, of the foot.
“The injury is to a weight-bearing part of the foot
and the doctors say that using too much pressure on the ‘pegs
could very easily give me some big problems,” says Hayden
who was riding a Honda CRF450 Supermoto bike and didn’t
crash in the incident.
“I went to Dr Ting and got the opinion of other specialists.
I’ve done a lot with Ting, he knows the sport very well
and he feels it would be quite risky to ride. He and the other
specialists say that if I rode this week I might have to fight
the injury for the rest of the year.
“As hard a decision as it is and as bad as I feel about
it, I think I’m better off staying home doing rehab
and physio, then come back fit at Misano and try to finish
the season strong. There’s been a lot of guys this year
trying to ride less than a hundred per cent and actually making
their problems worse.
“I certainly feel bad about it for my team and I apologise.
I had the permission of HRC to do the Supermoto thing. I just
wanted to do some riding during the break, have some fun and
I thought that maybe it’d give me a little spark for
the rest of the season, but it backfired on me.”
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