PEDROSA UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL SURGERY Dani Pedrosa underwent surgery today to fix a titanium plate to the fractured left collarbone he suffered in a fall yesterday during free practice for the Grand Prix of Japan. The two-hour operation at the Dexeus University Institute Hospital in Barcelona was a success and Pedrosa is now recuperating. The surgeon in charge, Dr. Xavier Mir, said afterwards that the procedure went very well but that it is still too early to predict possible timescales for Pedrosa’s recovery. After his crash yesterday, Pedrosa flew in the evening from Japan to his home city of Barcelona, arriving this morning in understandable discomfort following the 18-hour journey via Paris. During an examination prior to the operation it was also confirmed that Pedrosa had done nothing more than sprain his left ankle when his leg was momentarily trapped under the machine during the fall yesterday. The Repsol Honda Team rider is expected to remain in hospital for between 24 and 48 hours. Dr. Xavier Mir “The operation went very well. Dani had a four fragment chip fracture of the left collarbone and, together with Doctors Marlet and Ginebreda, we have performed a fixation with a titanium plate, made especially for the collarbone. We have fixed the two intermediate fragments with two compression screws. Regarding the left ankle, while in surgery, we performed another stress x-ray and saw that we were dealing with a grade 1 ankle sprain, which will heal in a short space of time. The rider is recently out of surgery and I think we must wait at least 48 hours, after which time, if all goes well, we may begin rehabilitation. At this time, it is not possible to give precise dates for recovery.”