Laverty escapes serious injury in high-speed crash

Aspar Ducati rider Eugene Laverty has been lucky to escape injury in a high-speed crash on the opening day of the 2016 season at Sepang.

“It seems we had a mechanical problem and I had to jump off the bike under braking into turn four. It was a scary moment but quite lucky really because it could have been much worse. The bike went straight into the tyre wall at well over 100km/h so that wasn’t nice to see – I never like to see a bike destroyed!”

Making his return after a broken wrist sustained at the end of 2015 during testing at Jerez, the Northern Irishman was lucky to get away with no serious damage in the crash, although his participation in the remainder of the crucial test is still to be decided.

“We’ve been for the X-ray and thankfully there is no fracture, just some tissue and ligament damage, which is a relief. It’s just unbelievable that after spending the last couple of months recovering from a broken wrist we have this on the first day of the first test!

“Overall it wasn’t a great day because we spent the morning with some electronic problems, the throttle stuck open and I was lucky not to crash on that occasion too. It meant the guys had to check things over and we lost some track time. Now I have to wait and see how the hand is tomorrow. Obviously I want to get back out there as soon as possible but we’ll have to wait and see when that is.”