LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy de Puniet was the victim of an awful incident of bad luck at the Grand Prix Deutschland this weekend as he fractured the tibia and fibula in his left leg in a crash during yesterdays 30 lap race at the German track. The Frenchman was flown from the circuit to hospital in Hartmannsdorf with Doctor Costa and underwent surgery yesterday night to fix the left leg. The 2-hour surgery was organized by Doctor Costa together with Doctor Ulf Schendel medical equipe with good results. The 29-year-old now has a big titanium rod in his leg to support the fracture and will leave the hospital tomorrow to start his recovery period with the Clinica Mobile Staff. De Puniet: “As riders we always risk crashing and breaking something, but it’s always when you are not thinking about crashing that you do. After the crash when Kalio involuntarily hit my leg I immediately understood that I had a serious problem. But the surgery went very well and now I am feeling better. I want to thank Doctor Costa and all the medical staff here for the good job they did. They say that I need 6 weeks recovery period to start racing again but I will try my best to be back in Brno”. Despite the highly unfortunate incident the LCR Honda MotoGP team won’t stop their work as the following decision has been made: Roger Lee Hayden will be riding the LCR-Honda RC212V in place of Randy De Puniet at the Laguna Seca race track this week end. The decision was facilitated by American Honda which have got a close relationship with Roger and he knows the California track very well and has even ridden a MotoGP race at the circuit. In 2007, riding a Kawasaki with Bridgestone tires, Nicky’s brother finished in a very positive 7th place. Lucio Cecchinello (LCR Team Manager): “I have been a rider for a while and injured myself several times so I understand Randy’s condition and feelings. I am still here with him at the Hospital and Doctor Costa and Doctor Ulf are very confident of his recovery. He is a tough rider and I am confident he will be back soon. After yesterdays bad news we had a meeting with Randy and Honda to take a decision for the following race. Despite this unfortunate experience we decided to go on with our job and we agreed to replace Randy for the US GP. Thanks to the cooperation from Nicky Hayden and Kevin Schwantz, we went for the best choice: Roger Lee Hayden. He has plenty of experience at Laguna Seca race track and we will do our best to support him”. Roger Lee Hayden: “First of all I want to wish Randy a speedy recovery. It’s never nice to see another rider on the sidelines due to injury. I’m very happy that LCR has chose me to fill in for Randy this weekend at Laguna Seca. It is a track I like a lot and I hope to do a good job for the Team and for all the American fans. I want to thank team Pedercini for giving me the ok, and everyone else involved to make this great opportunity happening”.