Nicky Hayden underwent surgery yesterday in California (supposedly by Dr.
Arthur Ting in Fremont) to repair his fractured right scaphoid.
The Ducati rider sustained a double fracture to his wrist during the last GP race of the season at Valencia, when he was involved in the incident that saw Alvaro Bautista unwittingly wiped out Hayden, Valentino Rossi and Randy de Puniet at the first turn.
Due to the accident Hayden was forced to miss the important post season test on Ducati’s new GP0 with the full aluminium chassis.
Judging from photo and the Kentucky Kid’s tweet: It’s all good baby baby!!! Everything went smooth and according to plan… surgery was a success (especially the anesthesia).
Hayden will have more than enough time to recover before the next official test session convenes at Sepang at the end of January.
Updated with Ducati press release:Ducati Team rider Nicky Hayden underwent surgery on Monday, 14 November, to speed up the healing process on his right wrist, which was injured in a crash at the November 7 Valencia Grand Prix.
During the operation, which was carried out at the Fremont Sports Therapy and Surgery Center in Fremont, California, USA, Dr.
Arthur Ting placed a small screw in Hayden’s fractured scaphoid.
The radial styloid, which is also fractured, was not treated.
“Everything went pretty smoothly,” Hayden said shortly after the operation.
“The scaphoid is a slow-healing bone, so you don’t want to wait, only to find out in January that it’s not healing correctly.
I’m happy to get it fixed right so that I’ll be ready to go when I need to be.
” After wearing a brace and using a bone stimulator for four weeks, Hayden will have his wrist X-rayed again to assess its status.
He is confident of being at full fitness before his return to the track for the first day of the 2012 testing season, in Sepang, Malaysia, on January 31.