After having to miss the Indianapolis GP, Nicky Hayden will be also forced to skip this weekend’s round at Brno.
The Ducati rider suffered a massive highside during qualifying (see video after the jump) that briefly knocked him unconscious and in the crash he sustained two small fractures to his second and third metacarpals of his right hand, and with the back-to-back races he has been advised not to ride and risk further injuring his hand
“It’s tough to miss another race. I don’t have big problems, but my hand is still very swollen(check out the pic here) and I don’t have much strength, and of course right-hand injuries are worse for motorcycle racers. I would have been at far less than 100 per cent, and if I used too much force or crashed again, I could displace the breaks and possibly be in big trouble. Obviously, the head is even more important, and with the amount of time I was unconscious, I’m still dealing with a headache. The main thing is all the doctors told me racing was a really bad idea and not smart, and everybody on my team agreed. As much as the racer in me doesn’t like staying at home and missing track time and points, I need to listen to the experts and try to heal up and get ready for Misano. That’s an important race for me and for Ducati, and I’ll be doing all the rehab to come back as fit as possible. I don’t like it, but it’s the right thing to do,” said a disappointed Hayden.
Ducati has decided not be replace Hayden at Brno he is expected to return for the Misano round scheduled for September 16th. At the moment it is unknown whether Hayden will be recovered enough to take part in the two-day test at Misano that is organized for the week after the Czech race and strangely enough Valentino Rossi who will be leaving the Italian marque at the end of the season will be testing some new parts.
Ducati’s test team will also be at Mugello and Danilo Petrucci, who is one of the three riders in line for Ducati’s Junior Team, will get another chance to try the GP12 - paddock rumors are reporting that Petrucci was more than seven tenths faster than Scott Redding and 1.5s faster than Andrea Iannone who tested the Ducati at the beginning of this month and already has an option with Ducati for 2013.
