De Puniet recovering, Roger Lee Hayden to ride at Laguna Seca

Randy de Puniet underwent a successful two-hour operation on his left leg last night to insert a titanium rod, following fractures to his left tibia and fibula sustained in a crash in Sunday’s race at Sachsenring.

The surgery, organised by Doctor Claudio Costa from the Clinica Mobile along with Doctor Ulf Schendel and his medical team, was conducted at hospital in Hartmannsdorf where De Puniet was flown by helicopter from the circuit. LCR Honda have reported the operation as a positive one, and De Puniet will leave the hospital tomorrow (Tuesday, July 20th) to begin his rehabilitation with the aid of the Clinica Mobile.

“As riders we always risk crashing and breaking something, but it’s always when you are not thinking about crashing that you do,” said De Puniet. “When Kallio accidentally hit my leg after I crashed I immediately knew I had a serious problem. However, the surgery went very well and now I am feeling better. I want to thank Doctor Costa and all the medical staff here for the good job they did. They say that I need a six-week recovery period before starting to race again, but I will try my best to be back in Brno (August 15th).”

LCR Honda have also officially confirmed that Roger Lee Hayden, younger brother of 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky, will ride the team’s satellite RC212V at the Red Bull US Grand Prix this weekend. The agreement, which has been facilitated by American Honda, means Roger Lee Hayden will ride in his second MotoGP race at the circuit – one he knows well – having ridden to tenth place there in 2007 on a Kawasaki.

LCR Honda Team Manager Lucio Cecchinello said: “I was a rider and injured myself several times so I understand Randy’s condition and how he feels. I am still here with him at the hospital and Doctor Costa and Doctor Ulf are very confident about his recovery. He is a tough rider and I am sure he will be back soon.”

“After yesterday’s bad news we had a meeting with Randy and Honda to take a decision for the following race,” continued Cecchinello. “Despite this unfortunate experience we decided to go on with our job and we agreed to replace Randy for the US GP. Thanks to the cooperation from Nicky Hayden and Kevin Schwantz, we went for the best choice: Roger Lee Hayden. He has plenty of experience at Laguna Seca and we will do our best to support him.”

Roger Lee Hayden commented: “First of all I want to wish Randy a speedy recovery. It’s never nice to see another rider on the sidelines due to injury. I'm very happy that LCR has chosen me to fill in for Randy this weekend at Laguna Seca. It is a track I like a lot and I hope to do a good job for the team and for all the American fans. I want to thank Team Pedercini for giving me the okay, and everyone else involved for helping with this great opportunity.”