It looks like both Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner will race tomorrow in the US GP at Laguna Seca. After both riders suffered high-sides during today’s qualifying sessions, they have made announcements that they intend to race, but will ride injured.
Casey Stoner got off the easiest of the two, injuring his hip and groin. The Australian was cautious in his predictions for tomorrow as he described the qualifying session, and his high-side.
“To be honest the bike had given us a few warnings in a lot of places around the circuit today and I’m sure there were a lot of other guys in a similar situation. The tyre is quite hard on the right-hand side and needs a couple of laps to warm up properly. Unfortunately on the lap before the crash, in the most important corner for heating that side of the tyre up I was held up by two riders having a disagreement and then I got stuck behind one of them into the next right-hander too. I was wary that the tyre would be cooler than I needed it to be on the next lap so I went into turn three a lot more carefully than normal, but as I closed the gas on the way into the corner the rear just came around. I tried to pick the bike up and go straight into the gravel but it didn’t want to and that was it – it threw me straight up in the air! It hurt when I landed but I thought I’d only winded myself – now it looks like I might have torn something in my groin, which is not the best thing to happen before the race. Anyway, we have a great bike for this track so we’ll see what we can do.”
Jorge Lorenzo was in worse shape, dislocating his shoulder and injuring his foot in the crash. Dr. Claudio Costa of Clinica Mobile has said that Lorenzo should be fit for Sunday’s race, but will check the rider in the morning.
“We were really comfortable and competitive on this track, but when I had my last chance to do a quick lap time I found some slower riders on track and they wanted to follow me. I decided to slow down for a while because I wanted to be alone but the rear tyre was too cold for the speed I was doing. I went into the corner and I crashed.”
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