Spanish rider flies off bike, again

Not for the first time this season, Jorge “Mad George” Lorenzo has parted company with his Yamaha in a big way.

At Sunday’s US MotoGP, he was bucked off his bike on the high side - one of the worst types of crash for a rider - and ended up in the gravel trap.Lorenzo broke a couple of bones in his left foot in the incident, and now faces a race to be fit for the next GP, at Brno next month.

This is Mad George’s third major injury of the season: he fractured his right leg and both ankles in a spectacular crash in China in May, and suffered concussion and a hand injury in a practice crash at Barcelona in June.

Lorenzo quotes below:

Jorge’s thoughts on the Laguna Seca crash:

“I’m very sad today because I had a lot of confidence for the race after qualifying. At the very start of the race I was fourth and feeling good, then I crashed.

“My tyre was not up to temperature, I lost the rear and the next thing I knew I was in the gravel with pain in my foot. It’s one more crash, one more injury, and it’s another moment I have to forget as soon as possible. I need to look forward. I am so sad but now I must concentrate on the fact that I have a whole month before Brno in order to be fit and able to race in good shape. This is my aim.”