Motorcycling: Lorenzo still hopes to race despite injury

World champion Jorge Lorenzo is hoping to defy the odds and ride in Saturday’s Dutch MotoGP, barely 24 hours after undergoing surgery on a broken collarbone, his Yamaha team said on Friday.

The Spaniard, who underwent an operation in Barcelona early Friday morning after a high-speed crash in practice on Thursday, returned to the Assen circuit and fully intends to ride if he is passed fit by doctors.

“He will have a medical on Saturday morning and then the team will discuss the possibility of him riding in the race in the afternoon,” the team announced.

The rules state that a rider can compete in a race 24 hours after being given an anaesthetic, and Lorenzo has still not been officially withdrawn from the race, so the door remains open for him.

But he will have to convince doctors that he is in a fit condition to ride early on Saturday morning before the day’s warm-up laps.

Lorenzo crashed at high speed in rain-hit practice on Thursday, fracturing his left collarbone, and underwent surgery successfully before flying back to Assen.

His surprise return to the circuit indicated he might try to compete in the race after all, mindful of the narrow seven-point gap between him and championship leader Dani Pedrosa.

Even though he skipped qualifying, Lorenzo’s best time in practice before his accident would allow him to start in 12th place on the grid.

Michele Zasa, the doctor who carried out the surgery, told Yamaha: “The operation, made difficult because of the complexity of the fracture, lasted two hours (from 0200 to 0400 local time), during which time we inserted a titanium plate and eight screws to fix together parts of the collarbone.”

Briton Cal Crutchlow sprang a surprise as the Yamaha rider finishing fastest in final qualifying to secure his first-ever pole.

He is joined on the front row by Honda duo Marc Marquez and Stefan Bradl for this seventh leg of the championship.