Hayden's injury secret

Nicky Hayden has sensationally revealed he won the MotoGP world championship with a fractured right shoulder, picked up in the controversial Estoril clash with team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

The American kept the painful injury a closely guarded secret before his dramatic final round success over Valentino Rossi in Valencia last month, to deny Rossi any more of a psychological boost – and rode through the pain barrier during the Valencia race itself.

The new world champion will undergo corrective surgery on his right shoulder in San Francisco later this month, which will force Hayden to miss the final test session of 2006 in Jerez starting on November 28.
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The crash also aggravated an old collarbone injury he suffered in a supermoto crash in Italy in 2004, and in the operation he will have a metal plate removed.

He explained: “When I fell off in Estoril I damaged the shoulder. I can’t lift it right now. Riding at Valencia I had some adrenaline and it wasn’t too bad but actually it hurt a lot there but I had no choice but to tough it up.

“I wanted to try and go to Jerez to test because I know how much work we got to do. But I’ve got to be smart and listen to my doctors. I got a fracture on the end of the shoulder and the more I put it off its just going to make it worse.

“I don’t want to make it a lot worse and main thing is to get healthy. It will be hard sitting at home knowing everybody is out there testing but I can’t ride like this.”