Misano MotoGP: Casey Stoner battles wrist problem

Casey Stoner dominated today’s opening practice at a sun-drenched Misano before revealing he is suffering from a left wrist injury. 

The injury is a re-opened small fracture in his left scaphoid bone, which he first injured back in 2003.

The problem has also affected a tendon in his left thumb, which is currently sticking out at a strange angle.

The Aussie needed treatment on the injury in Misano today, but it did little to slow him down as he topped the timesheets in impressive fashion.

Stoner clocked a best time of 1.34.806 in this afternoon’s second session to beat home hero Valentino Rossi by 0.418s.

Stoner said: “It is not really giving me any problems and I can still grip the handlebar no problem. The scaphoid is a really strange one because there has been no impact on it. I was just adjusting my back protector before going out for one of my runs this afternoon and I felt some pain.

“It got worse as the session went on so we decided to check it out with the Clinica Mobile and I couldn’t believe it when they showed me the x-ray – it seems the bone I broke in 2003 has re-opened. It’s not going to be easy and I’ll have to take care not to cause any further damage but my plan is to compete tomorrow.

“It’s a shame because other than that everything else went really well today. It’s nice to get off to a good start at this circuit, we went well here last year and the bike and tyres seem to be working well already.

“I’m not a big fan of the changes to the track. Last year turn two and turn three were a lot of fun but this year it’s too tight. You can’t flow so well, the grip isn’t so good it’s a bit of a shame. Even so there are some points of the track that are still a lot of fun and in general I enjoy riding here. Hopefully we can continue like this tomorrow.”