Jorge Lorenzo to Race a Day after Surgery
Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo was initially ruled out of Saturday’s Assen MotoGP, and for good reason.
The reigning MotoGP Champion suffered a nasty high side during practice Thursday, breaking his left collarbone. Due to not being able to get emergency surgery in the Netherlands, Yamaha flew him to Barcelona, where he received surgery early Friday morning.
By Friday evening, he was back in Assen. And in a “superhuman effort,” Lorenzo took part in Saturday’s warm up after a medical check cleared him to ride. In obvious pain, Lorenzo was able to get up to speed, but was denied a top spot due to traffic. Lorenzo would finish eighth fastest, 0.714 of a second behind the leader, teammate Valentino Rossi.
Following the warm-up, Lorenzo underwent another medical check and was clear to ride in the Dutch TT. Due to his first practice session results, Lorenzo will start from 12th on the grid and what will truly be the best comeback story of the 2013 MotoGP Championship.
Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1 MotoGP) says: “Well, finally we are here, to race. In the first laps of the warm up I felt a lot of pain, especially when the bike accelerated and I had to hold it strongly. I thought of either giving up or continuing but luckily I continued and the pain decreased as I did more laps.
“I’ve grown accustomed to molding my body to the bike to avoid pain. The problem will be in the race when I have to overtake on the brakes because I can´t force the shoulder a lot. I have a good rhythm and I feel much better on the turns, but obviously worse than on Thursday.
“Anyway, I have decided to race. Just finishing the race would be a small victory for me but I would like to take at least five points or more, to take less would not be much after suffering a lot. At the end of the race we’ll see if it was worth it. I’m proud of myself for the effort in these two difficult days after the crash and also of my team for their support.”
[…] one of the much-needed 11 points that can go towards a possible third premier-class title. The “superhuman” Lorenzo spoke fluidity of his fifth-place […]