Promising return for Aoyama

Eight weeks and a day after the warm up session crash at Silverstone which resulted in a fractured vertebra Hiroshi Aoyama was back on a bike for the first time, when he took to the Brno track for the official MotoGP test on Monday.

It was a welcome return to two wheels for the Japanese rider, whose next stage in his recovery process was an experimental outing on two wheels to gauge his level of comfort and fitness. Despite rain cutting the test short in the early afternoon Aoyama managed to complete 46 laps in total on his RC212V, and was highly satisfied with the day.

“My feeling is not too bad on the bike,” said the 28 year-old. “I’ve not ridden for two months so I was a bit worried at how much I’d be able to ride the bike, but I rode 44 laps in the morning and I had just a little bit of pain. I was able to ride better than I expected so I’m happy about that.”

Still not feeling fully fit the prospect of a return at the next round at Indianapolis is something the rider and his Interwetten Honda team will decide upon once he has had some time to see how his body reacts to the demands of the session.

“My back is still not 100% okay and I don't want to decide now if I will return in Indianapolis or not, I want to see how I feel tomorrow and later this week. This test was positive for me and I am positive about my whole situation. I want to return as fast as possible.”