X Games injury forces Nicky Hayden out of Brno clash

Nicky Hayden has been forced to withdraw from this weekend’s Czech Republic GP in Brno following a foot injury he suffered in the X Games.

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The factory Honda rider landed heavily from a jump during practice for a surprise Supermoto appearance in the X Games at Los Angeles on August 1 and damaged his heel.

Hayden has been undergoing lengthy treatment with Dr Art Ting and a decision was taken yesterday for Hayden to miss the Brno clash before returning to action in Misano at the end of the month.

“The injury is to a weight-bearing part of the foot and the doctors say that using too much pressure on the footpegs could very easily give me some big problems,” says Hayden who was riding a Honda CRF450 Supermoto bike and didn’t crash in the incident.

“I went to Dr Ting and got the opinion of other specialists. I’ve done a lot with Ting, he knows the sport very well and he feels it would be quite risky to ride. He and the other specialists say that if I rode this week I might have to fight the injury for the rest of the year.

“As hard a decision as it is and as bad as I feel about it, I think I’m better off staying home doing rehab and physio, then come back fit at Misano and try to finish the season strong.

“There’s been a lot of guys this year trying to ride less than a hundred per cent and actually making their problems worse, “said the 2006 MotoGP world champion.

Hayden insists he had the blessing of HRC to compete in the X Games and he said: “I certainly feel bad about it for my team and I apologise. I had the permission of HRC to do the Supermoto thing.

“I just wanted to do some riding during the break, have some fun and I thought that maybe it’d give me a little spark for the rest of the season, but it backfired on me.”

Hayden will also miss the two-day test session after this weekend’s race.