Carlos Checa Injured, Ruled Out Of Race
Cycle News Staff | September 13, 2013
Photography by Gold & Goose
Carlos Checa’s horrible World Superbike season got worse today at the Intercity Istanbul Park circuit in Turkey when he highsided his Team Alstare Ducati Panigale and suffered a contusion to the upper thorax as well as a possible fracture of his left scaphoid. Checa has been ruled out of racing this weekend in what is the debut of the series in Turkey.
To make matters worse for the team, Ayrton Badovini also crashed and suffered an ankle injury, though he is expected to try and ride in tomorrow’s qualifying sessions.
“I have a lot of pain in the chest area on both the right and left side,” Checa said in a team release. “I’ve also hurt my wrist, but as there is already a screw there, resulting from an injury that dates back to 1996, it’s not yet clear whether I’ve now fractured it again or not. I obviously cannot ride in this condition; the doctors have advised me to rest up.”
Badovini, meanwhile, says he will give it a go tomorrow.
“We had made quite a good start,” the Italian said. “There are a few things we still need to sort out, but the session had been going fairly well until the crash – also considering that we were using a harder tire solution that I normally have more difficulty with. We didn’t need the crash, of course, my foot was trapped between the track and bike but, fortunately, thanks to my boot, the damage was limited. I have however stretched all the ligaments in my left ankle and broken a vein, which is the reason for the swelling. The doctors tell me that as long as I rest up today and keep my ankle iced, then I should be a in a position to ride tomorrow – I won’t be in great shape, of course, but I’ll do my best.”
