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Marc Marquez and Cal Crutchlow will undergo surgery for a broken arm and broken wrist respectively after a weekend of carnage at Jerez.
Marquez had scythed his way back to third position in the 25-lap race after surviving an early scare before highsiding violently at Turn 3 on the fourth-last lap of the Spanish MotoGP.
The Repsol Honda rider’s right arm sustained a heavy impact as he landed, when he was hit by his own bike, leading to a diagnosis of a ‘transverse diaphyseal fracture to his right humerus’ (upper arm bone).
MotoGP medial staff confirmed that Marquez sustained no serious head or thoracic (T1 to T12 vertebrae) trauma.
The Spaniard is due to travel to Barcelona’s Hospital Universitari Dexeus on Monday (local time), with a plan for MotoGP’s Traumatology Specialist Dr Xavier Mir to operate on Tuesday.
Recovery time is not yet known.
The injury could become a major blow to Marquez’s chances of winning a seventh premier class world championship this year and fifth in a row, given the 2020 season could last as few as 13 races.
Neither Crutchlow nor Alex Rins even started the first race of the campaign due to separate crashes earlier in the event.
Crutchlow dropped his Castrol LCR Honda at Turn 8 during Sunday morning’s Warm Up and tumbled through the gravel.
He was declared unfit to race due to concussion before it emerged that the Briton had also sustained a fractured right scaphoid.
Crutchlow will therefore also be attended to by Dr Mir on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, this morning (Sunday) in the last lap of the warm-up I crashed going into Turn 8,” said Crutchlow.
“It seemed that when I braked on the kerb, the front of the bike slid and I was unable to save the crash.
“What was going to be a normal crash escalated when I went into the deep gravel trap and started tumbling, hitting my head quite a few times, particularly my face.
“I was a bit dazed after the crash, and a bit sore in my whole body, especially my hands.
“After further assessment at the medical centre I was sent for the CT scan on my head and neck and it all came back fine.
“With the facial bruising I had, however, Dr Angel Charte (MotoGP Medical Director) felt I needed eight hours rest, which I think was the right decision.
“When I returned to the circuit (after checks in hospital in Jerez), I began to feel some pain in my left wrist, so went for another scan of the scaphoid, which it seems has been broken in the crash.
“Dr Mir will operate on the wrist in Barcelona on Tuesday morning, and I will return to the circuit on Friday and hopefully to action.
“I look forward to seeing the LCR Honda Team there, and hopefully to work hard with them again next weekend.”
Rins injured his right shoulder when he crashed his Suzuki Ecstar entry at Turn 11 during Qualifying 2.
Dr Charte advised that the Spaniard had fractured the head of the humerus, although his status going forward is unknown.
Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Fabio Quartararo converted pole position into his first MotoGP race win at the start of his second season in the top tier, ahead of Monster Energy Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales.
The Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso completed the podium three weeks after undergoing surgery for a broken collarbone which he sustained in a motocross event.
Round 2 is the Andalucian MotoGP, again at Jerez, this coming weekend.
