Loris Capirossi - Photo Credit: Pramac Racing
Loris Capirossi looks likely to miss the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi in two weeks' time after dislocating his right shoulder during today's race at Aragon. The Italian also suffered a concussion and a contusion on his elbow after crashing into Toni Elias on lap 16 and was angry to have suffered a repeat of his Assen injury.
“There's little to say. I crashed on my 'famous' right shoulder and suffered another dislocation as a result. It hurts a lot, even with the pain-killer I received. After the Misano race, I wanted to try to at least finish the race, but instead things went like they did. At this point, my presence in Japan is in serious doubt, but I still hope to recover in time.”
Pramac Racing had already seen their day take a turn for the worse when Randy de Puniet lost ground at the start. The Frenchman ran off track to avoid the crashing Karel Abraham and could only make it back up to 12th.
“Once again I have to say that I'm disappointed after a race”, he commented. “I could have been in the top five or six positions, but instead I finished the race in twelfth place. When Abraham crashed, I couldn't do anything but go off, and after that I was able to make up a lot of seconds and some positions. I had almost caught the group in front and was pushing really hard when I made a mistake and lost everything I had gained. We're not very fortunate, that's for sure.”
Technical Director Fabiano Sterlacchini felt his riders were both unfortunate in the incidents which ruined their races, claiming Capirossi was caught out by the early braking point of Elias.
“Yet another unfortunate race for Loris. He couldn't pass Toni Elias on the brakes, so he tried in a corner, but when the HRC rider slowed, perhaps more than he should have, Loris wasn't able to avoid him and collided. I'm sorry for them both, especially for our rider, who hit his painful shoulder. It's also a shame for Randy. He had a good race pace, and he easily could have been in the group with Bautista, Barbera, and Hayden, but Abraham's crash at the start of the race compromised everything. Performance aside, sometimes bad luck gets in the way.”
