Capirossi Out of Australian Grand Prix

Henny Ray Abrams | October 16, 2010

Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi has been forced to withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix following a crash in Saturday qualifying.Capirossi walked away from the crash, which came near the end of a dry, but windy qualifying session. The diagnosis at the infield medical center was a damaged left groin.The injury wasn’t deemed serious enough to keep him out, but a second examination found a  strain to the adductor muscle at the top of his left thigh. The medical staff declared him unfit to ride.Capirossi returned immediately to Europe for further treatment to be ready for the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril in two weeks’ time.”I am so disappointed that I have had to withdraw from the race, I did not want to, but the doctors said that the strain would have made it difficult for me to hang on to the bike and control it for the whole race, so they had to declare me unfit,” he said. “It was been quite a miserable three races for me and now I need to get back home and make sure I am as fit as possible for the last two races. I still have a lot to do this season and I want to end the year as competitive as possible.”This wasn’t the first time Capirossi has been forced out of a race. The veteran missed the Aragon GP after damaging a tendon  to the little finger on his right hand in a first lap crash with Ducati Marlboro’s Nicky Hayden in the previous round in Misano.

Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor

Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.