Misano MotoGP: Nicky Hayden escapes crash scare

Nicky Hayden had a scare on his return to action in Misano today as a crash luckily saw him suffer no further damage to his cracked right heel.

The Repsol Honda rider was in the last section on his last lap in this afternoon’s second free practice session when he lost control of his factory RC212V machine.

Having been told further damage to the cracked heel, which he suffered during a Supermoto practice at the Los Angeles X Games a month ago, could sideline him for six months, Hayden was relieved not aggravate his injury.

The American, who ended the opening day with the 11th best time, said: “I crashed in the last left, it was an easy little crash, I just held my foot up so it didn’t touch the ground. I was pushing hard, it was my best lap so far, I just hit a bump and lost the front. I’ve been pushing the front a bit most of the day, so I wasn’t really shocked by it.”

Assessing his return to action after he missed the Brno GP earlier this month, the 2006 world champion added: “Things went pretty decent, considering. Not fantastic or nothing, but the bike was working pretty good, the tyres were working a lot better than they have the last couple of weeks, so a big thanks to Michelin for doing a good job here.

“It’s not the most pleasant ride of my life, but I expected that. In some of the right-hand corners I’m probably not as quick as I should be, but in T2 and T4 which are pretty much all left-hand corners I’m one of the quickest. In some of the rights the injury is a little bit of a hindrance, but it’s not a big deal.

“I don’t want to be a drama queen and make a big deal of it, I’m not the first guy who’s ridden injured. It’s just the way it is and the main thing is that it’s good to be back.”