US MotoGP: Mika Kallio out of Laguna clash

Finnish rookie Mika Kallio has withdrawn from this weekend’s American MotoGP race in Laguna Seca with the serious left hand injury he suffered in Assen just four days ago.

Kallio lost part of the tip of his wedding ring finger and needs a skin graft to repair the serious damage after he crashed at high speed on the last lap of last Saturday’s Dutch GP.

Kallio looked to have won a gripping midfield fight when he seized sixth place from British rider James Toseland on the penultimate lap in Assen.

But he crashed on the final lap, his left hand momentarily getting trapped under his Pramac Ducati GP9.

With the risk of infection high in Laguna Seca this weekend, Kallio has opted to miss what would have been his first experience of the spectacular California circuit.

He said: “I was so excited to race in Laguna Seca, but I guess destiny wanted to be this way and I will have to renounce. It’s a pity. I think this is probably the best solution.

“Laguna would have been a new circuit to learn for me and with precarious physical conditions we thought it would have been too risky.”

Kallio is confident he will be fit to return to action for the German GP at the Sachsenring later this month, but the Pramac team will not replace him in Laguna Seca.