Tommy Hayden, the defending Champion and current points leader in the AMA Supersport Series, will race at the next round of the Championship, July 22-24 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course thanks to surgery on his broken right hand. Hayden suffered a “simple fracture” of the third metacarpal in his right hand when he mis-judged a pass on a backmarker in the July 10 AMA Superstock race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, bumped with the slower rider, ran off the track at high speed and crashed. Later that same day, he raced through pain to maintain his Championship point lead with a sixth-place finish in the Supersport final. On Monday, July 11, according to Hayden’s manager Steve Dicterow of International Racers, Inc., Hayden underwent a simple surgical procedure in which Dr. Arthur Ting plated the fracture to ensure “he will be riding next week at Mid-Ohio. That is a definite. There is not any uncertainty there.” Hayden is currently tending to business matters in Southern California and plans to return to his home in Owensboro, Kentucky Thursday. According to Dicterow, Hayden feels “great.”