Alstare Ducati riders spent more time in the hospital and under the care of doctors than putting laps on the 1199 Panigale during the two-day World Superbike private test at Phillip Island.
Carlos Checa didn’t even turn a wheel, as on the eve of the test he started feeling ill with stomach pain and nausea and the pain was so bad that he had to be hospitalized.
Regarding Checa’s condition, Francis Batta, Alstare Ducati team owner, said: “It is unfortunate that Carlos couldn’t ride at all.
He suffered some sort of stomach problem the day after he arrived in Australia.
Possibly it was something to do with jet-lag, the air-conditioning on the plane and the change of temperature.
He went to hospital, but there are no big problems and we expect him to be back for the tests next week and then the race afterwards.
”However Checa on his Twitter account wrote, ‘An intestinal obstruction has left me KO for 2 days, I hope to leave soon the hospital and be able to test on Monday’.
Which doesn’t sound like ‘no big problems.
’Ayrton Badovini also ended up in the hospital, but his was a result of a highside at Lukey Heights Friday morning.
When the medics got to Badovini they found him on the ground motionless, with the Panigale going up in flames.
After being stabilized – he was conscious – he was transported to the circuit’s medical center, but once inside he was became ill, so he was air lifted to the nearest hospital to undergo tests.
Apparently Badovini has no fractures or other serious injuries, just bruising to one of his knees but will have to spend the night in the hospital.
On Badovini’s brief outing on the Panigale, Batta said: “Ayrton made a good start.
He took things steadily, but used his head and kept improving.
He gave the team a lot of information, so it was a shame that he crashed and couldn’t ride for the rest of the day.
He has also gone to hospital.
We don’t think there are any problems but await the hospital’s confirmation.
” “I’m a little frustrated because we couldn’t do as much development work as we wanted, but I am very happy about how well the collaboration with Ducati has been going over these days and we’re all looking forward to getting back on track next week,” continued the Alstare Ducati team principal.
Both riders are expected to healthy enough for next Monday’s and Tuesday’s official Superbike test, and they’ll be joined the rest of Phillip Island’s walking wounded.