Hayden injured, 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 orthopedic 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 apologize. 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."