Injury concern for Nicky Hayden

An ankle injury suffered by former world champion Nicky Hayden in his shock X-Games appearance earlier this month has cast doubt on his fitness for this weekend’s Czech Republic GP in Brno.

The Repsol Honda rider hurt his ankle in an awkward landing during practice for the Supermoto race at the famous X-Games in Los Angeles 10 days ago.

He is due to undergo further medical checks today and the Kentucky rider said: “Hopefully I’ll be fit for Brno. I didn’t crash, I just landed wrong. I’m not sure if my foot came off the footpeg or what, but it feels pretty fragile. I’m pretty bummed out about it because I want to get out there and finish this season strong.”

Hayden said he is looking forward to confirming his fitness for round 12 of the series to try out Brno’s new track surface.

He added: “I can’t wait to try out the new surface at Brno. The last couple of years the surface has gotten quite old, not really bumpy but just so abrasive and cracked, so I think with a brand new surface the track is going to be awesome.

“I heard they didn’t just reseal it, or just put something on top, they did it the right way and started over. That’s going to be crucial for tyre wear, so we’ll probably have a bigger range of tyres than we normally do, both front and rear, to make sure we’ve got something.

“Brno is quite fast and open. It’ll be the first time we’ve taken this new bike – with the pneumatic valves – to any place where we can really stretch its legs and see what she’s really got.

“Brno’s got a little bit of everything, it’s not the kind of track where you can just set up the bike for just one thing. Good traction is certainly important to get off those corners good because there’s a few big straightaways, especially the uphill run to the final left and right.

“You also need something that’s stable on the brakes, because there’s a lot of hard braking.”