MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo hopeful of return for Indianapolis round
Jorge Lorenzo hopes to return for the Indianapolis MotoGP round after a second operation on his fractured collarbone.
Last Updated: 14/07/13 9:57am
Lorenzo suffered the injury originally in the last round Assen and rode through the pain barrier to claim fifth before undergoing surgery.
He was passed fit to race in the German Grand Prix but suffered another heavy fall in second practice, bending the titanium plate that had recently been inserted and causing intense pain that forced another two hours under the surgeon's knife.
One of his chief rivals for the title, Dani Pedrosa, was also hurt at the Sachsenring and unable to ride in qualifying - he may be able to start Sunday's race from the rear of the grid though.
Risk
Pedrosa and Marc Marquez will have a chance to add points next weekend at Laguna Seca, a race Lorenzo will miss, but the defending champion told his fans on Twitter than Indianapolis should mark his return.
He said: "To the people asking me about Laguna, I would like to say that I don't want to take more risk and (instead) have a good recovery. See you in Indy!"
Joaquin Rodriguez, one of the surgeons who performed his latest operation, said: "The new plate needed ten screws plus one inter fragmentary screw.
"We then needed to take out some bone substance from the pelvis that was mixed with dried bone. We placed this implant into the collarbone to stimulate the creation of the callus and help speed up the consolidation of the bone."
