We now have more details regarding Venezuelan racer Robertino Pietri’s hospitalization with an infection in one of his arms at the site of recent surgery to correct compartment syndrome. According to his father, 1980s AMA Superbike and F1 racer Roberto Pietri, the younger Pietri had contracted a sore throat prior to the infection. “Apparently he caught a bug in his throat(sore throat)which he gets from time to time,” explained Roberto Pietri in an e-mail Sunday. “For some reason this thing as it was wandering around his blood, it found this tender tissue in the arm as after an operation a little blood stays around until it is absorbed by the body. “He had gone to bed the night before and I had checked his arms before going to sleep. When we woke up the next morning to go do some errands he came back from the bathroom showing his arm and saying that it was swollen. I noticed it was a little reddish so we called the family doctor and he directed us to the right doctors and they opened him up, cleaned everything out and put him on some heavy antibiotics. “Since he is an athlete they acted that way so he could be ready to ride not 100% for (an upcoming AMA team test at) Fontana but be ready for Daytona. He is returning to California on February 5th and he can ride the track at Fontana just to learn the track and break in the bike and then go on to a rehabilitation program so he can be 100% for Daytona. “Apparently we acted so quickly and the doctors did such an aggressive response that nothing suffered in the inside (muscle) so he is now fine; all he really has to do is start riding easy and build up from there.”