Bautista Crash Update
After three leg surgeries following his crash at Free Practice 3 in Qatar last week for the opening round of the 2011 MotoGP Championship, Alvaro Bautista is finally recovering back home in Spain with no other issues.
The sole Suzuki rider in 2011 MotoGP had pins inserted into his fractured femur after the wreck at Losail International Circuit, the crash occuring on Friday, March 18. The surgery was a success, but doctors had to soon slice open Bautista’s leg from hip to knee to relieve pressure on his thigh muscles after he developed Compartmental Syndrome.
The wound was left open to assist this relieving pressure process, but when Doha doctor’s initially attempted to close the wound, they were unsuccessful.
Doctors then rushed Bautista to Mardrid by a special medical aircraft Wednesday evening, and he was then transferred to the Hospital USP San Jose, the treatment center he requested. Bautista then underwent a blood transfusion due to “having lost more than one liter of blood due to the fracture he had suffered.”
After further evaluation, Dr. Angel Villamor performed a third surgery to close the wound.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP says: “This procedure was a success and the pressure around the injury has now decreased, which enabled Bautista to take his first few tentative steps on Thursday with his physiotherapist.”
There is no word of when Bautista will return to MotoGP racing, but his target is to be present at Round 2 in Jerez, Spain, April 2. Substituting for the injured Bautista will be the American John “Hopper” Hopkins.
