Fabrizio and DuHamel to replace Elias in German and American MotoGP races

Veteran Canadian Miguel DuHamel will replace injured Gresini Honda rider Toni Elias in the American MotoGP in Laguna Seca, with Michel Fabrizio deputising for the Spaniard in the German MotoGP race.

Both have been hotly tipped to replace Toni Elias, who is currently recovering from the badly broken left femur he suffered at the Dutch MotoGP in Assen at the end of last month.

British rider Neil Hodgson turned down the offer to replace Toni Elias in both the German and American races, while Sete Gibernau and Kenny Roberts Junior were both linked to the ride.

Fabrizio, who is currently lying 12th in the World Superbike championship, will ride in the Sachsenring on July 15, 2007.

It is not the first time Italian Michel Fabrizio has substituted for Elias. He replaced Elias at last year’s British MotoGP clash but suffered a nightmare when he crashed in practice and broke his right collarbone.

Miguel DuHamel races for Honda’s official squad in the American superbike championship and earlier this week he confirmed he had been approached about taking Toni Elias’s vacant RC212V 800 machine in Laguna Seca.

The 39-year-old last raced in MotoGP way back in 1992.

Toni Elias is targeting a return to action at next month’s Czech Republic MotoGP in Brno on August 19, 2007 despite doctors saying his broken femur will keep him sidelined for at least three months.