Ben Spies injury update
Ben Spies is hopeful of riding in next weekend's Valencia MotoGP season finale, and the following post-race test, despite dislocating his ankle in a sighting lap crash at Estoril on Sunday.
The Rookie of the Year fell on the second of two sighting laps, at turn four, as riders attempted to understand grip levels on a dry track following a weekend of rain.
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider suffered a dislocated left ankle in the highside and aggravated injuries suffered at Le Mans and Silverstone.
The 26-year-old will now travel to Spain where he will undergo MRI scans on the ankle, though he is determined to end his rookie campaign by participating in the final round, after which he is due to make his factory Yamaha debut at the test.
"I knew the race was going to be tough because I had never turned a lap in the dry on this track," said Spies. "The first sighting lap was fine and on the second I just made a mistake at turn four. Aoyama and Capirossi were in front of me and they nearly did the same thing. I just didn't have the left side of the tyre heated up enough and it spat me off.
"I'm frustrated because I'm sure even in the dry I could have had a fairly good race. I've hurt my left ankle again and it's pretty painful right now. I'll have some more scans in Spain but my intention is to go to Valencia and race and hopefully do the test too. We'll have to wait and see but that's my plan right now," he declared.
Spies had been due to start from fifth place.
"I was standing on the grid when Race Direction told me that Ben had crashed at turn four and I feel really sorry for him because all weekend he's done an incredible job," added team manager Herve Poncharal. "He'd never seen this track and in atrocious conditions he was always one of the fastest on track.
"When you look at the race it is not impossible to imagine Ben being capable of fighting for the podium again. We hope he'll be fine for Valencia and I know already that he wants to race."
If Spies is unfit to ride, it is possible that the team's 2011 signing Cal Crutchlow, who will be at Valencia for the test, could be called up to ride in the race.
Crutchlow has already completed a test session on the M1 in Japan.
