Toseland withdraws from Brno WSB round

James Toseland has withdrawn from the World Superbike round at Brno after the first free practice session this morning. The BMW Motorrad Italia rider completed 15 laps during the hour long session finishing up in 18th place with a lap time 2.399 seconds  off pace setter Jakub Smrz.

Toseland is still recovering from a serious wrist and hand injury sustained in Spain in March which necessitated surgery to relocate displaced bones and restart the blood flow.

Speaking to MCN, Toseland said: “I didn’t want to have any pain killers because I need to be able to feel what’s going on. The pain isn’t as bad as when I tried to race in America but after three laps on the bike it’s hurting.

“It’s been important to understand where I’m at with the injury and my aim is to be able to complete both races at Silverstone later this month.”

Toseland has been replaced by Italian Lorenzo Lanzi for the remainder of the weekend. Lanzi is no stranger to the team having ridden at Misano and Aragon with a best result of 11th in Italy.

The fastest time of the session went to Smrz onboard the Effenbert Ducati followed by Max Biaggi , Marco Melandri and Michel Fabrizio. Championship leader Carlos Checa set the seventh fastest time.