Nicky Hayden had successful surgery on a detached right knee medial collateral ligament (MCL), which was carried out by Dr. David Chao at the Oasis Surgery Center in San Diego, California, at 7am PST (GMT -8) today. The Honda WorldSBK Team rider twisted his knee last Friday during a flat-track training session near Barcelona, Spain.

Hayden will have a post-operation evaluation in the coming days to determine when he can begin physical therapy.

Nicky Hayden 69

Unfortunately I injured my knee between the two private tests of Aragón and Jerez. I had a chance to do some flat-track training during my days off on a small, second-gear, track but I caught my foot awkwardly in a bit of a rut and twisted my knee around. Luckily, I didn’t crash nor hurt anything else on my body, but I knew straight away that something was wrong with my knee. It turned out that I had a tear to the MCL so, after consulting with some doctors back in the US, I had an operation today to fix it. I will rest for a few days but it looks like I’m going to start rehab very soon and I will follow the doctor’s instructions very closely. Injuries are never good, but luckily I have a bit of time now before the new season comes around. I want to thank Dr. Chao and his staff; I will now spend some days testing and then tackle the rehab in order to jump on the new bike as soon as possible!