Hiroshi Aoyama Fractures Wrist In Training Crash

The MotoGP off-season training regime has taken its usual toll. On Friday, Blusens Avintia rider Hiroshi Aoyama crashed while training at a motocross track, fracturing a bone in his wrist in the processs. Aoyama was examined by Dr Xavier Mir at the Dexeus Institute in Barcelona, which treats many of the Europe-based motorcycle racers, where a minor fracture in Aoyama's left wrist was found.

Though painful, the injury should not prevent Aoyama from taking part in the first MotoGP test due to start at Sepang on February 5th. Injuries to the left wrist are easier to manage than those to the right, for the obvious reason that the right hand is needed for braking and controlling the throttle. Aoyama has been instructed to rest the wrist for a full week, to allow the wrist to recover.

Motocross continues to claim victims in the off season, and does so every year, yet it remains vital for training basic motorcycle riding skills. But motocross is gradually falling out of favor, as many riders start to switch their attention to riding dirt track, on specially prepared circuits. Valentino Rossi has had a number of tracks laid out on his own land near Tavullia in Italy; Colin Edwards runs his famous Boot Camp in Texas; and former Moto2 rider Kenny Noyes has had a flat track built at the Motorland Aragon circuit, where he runs a school under the Noyes Camp banner. With fewer jumps, and smoother terrain, the risks of injury are much lower riding dirt track.