2011 MotoGP
During the 2011 MotoGP finale at Valencia Nov. 6, former Rizla Suzuki rider Alvaro Bautista crashed at Turn 1, taking out former Pramac Racing Ducati’s Randy de Puniet and the Ducati duo of Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden.
All four riders suffered DNFs, but walked away mostly unharmed. The man who got the bulk of the hurt was the American Hayden, who fell hard on his right wrist.
Further medical tests showed that the Kentucky Kid Hayden fractured his right scaphoid, a small bone in the wrist. Due to injury, not only did Hayden suffer the DNF, but also missed the traditional post-season MotoGP testing at Valencia.
And on Monday, Hayden underwent surgery at the Fremont Sports Therapy and Surgery Center in Fremont, Calif.
During the operation, Dr. Arthur Ting placed a small screw in Hayden’s fractured scaphoid. The radial styloid, which is also fractured, was not treated, Ducati reported.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team MotoGP) says; “Everything went pretty smoothly. The scaphoid is a slow-healing bone, so you don’t want to wait, only to find out in January that it’s not healing correctly. I’m happy to get it fixed right so that I’ll be ready to go when I need to be.”
Ducati reports that after wearing a brace and using a bone stimulator for four weeks, Hayden will have his wrist X-rayed again to assess its status. He is confident of being at full fitness before his return to the track for the first day of the 2012 testing season on Jan. 31 in Sepang, Malaysia.