Loopy Spanish superstar Toni Elias has broken his femur (thighbone) in practise for the Dutch round of MotoGP at Assen. He fell from his Honda and seemed to be sliding safely along the tarmac when he hit a gravel trap and started tumbling violently.
Early indications suggest that it is a serious break that could take 7 to 11 months to heal, even with the skills of the brilliant but crazy MotoGP surgeon Dr Costa on hand. This means that unless these reports are false, Toni's season on the Gresini Honda is over.
Elias has been on the podium this year, but has suffered from the same inconsistency that has befallen his team-mate Marco Melandri. This year's Honda is a terrible bike, and the Gresini team have had a terrible time trying to make it work on Bridgestone tyres.
The Spaniard won over a lot of fans after his performance at Turkey, where Valentino Rossi claimed the youngster was dangerous, but most observers thought Vale should shut up and watch a video of himself ramming Sete Gibernau a couple of years ago.
There are no easy breaks where the femur is concerned, with even the best case scenario being a layoff of around 8 to 10 weeks. Amazingly, up until medical advances in the 20th century, a broken femur had a high fatality rate, and even though our modern medicine has made it survivable, it is still a nasty bone to break, requiring very long recovery times.
Losing Toni's exciting sideways riding style for the rest of the season is a real blow to MotoGP. Hopefully the young nutter will heal quickly and return to the paddock as soon as possible.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
MotoGP: Catastrophe For Toni Elias
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
the italian media are reporting even a possible knee distorsion. Yes it was a simple lowside until he hit the gravel trap. Someone has mentioned that there was a little gravel step that caused the subsquent tumbling. Any sort of rake on the gravel trap it's terrible on a motorbike rider because it will airborn him/her everytime he/she hits the next wave.
who could substitute him in the Gresini team? We are in the middle of the season and on top of that it seems that the Honda Gresini is dog with Bridgestone paws. Have you read Edwards comment stating that Honda's splash with the 800cc was due to the fact that they tried to re-invent the wheel with the outcome that we know?
I've seen footage of the crash, and Toni was sliding safely until he hit the gravel and was thrown into violent tumbling and his legs were battered and twisted. Yes, the gravel seemed to be higher than the tarmac. He was incredibly unlucky.
I don't know who will replace him. I'm wondering if Dovizioso might get a chance, he's done well in 250GP this season.
People are also suggesting Neil Hodgson, who has experience of Laguna Seca and is currently a Bridgestone tyre tester, but I'm not convinced.
If Dovizioso, will he miss the 250 race to be in MotoGp?
Hmmm. Would HRC pull Dovi out of 250 for the rest of the season? Maybe.
Of course, he could ride at Laguna, where the 250's don't go anyway so he wouldn't be missing anything.
Post a Comment