EXHIBITION EMBARRASSMENT FOR KAWASAKI’S ALEX HOFMANN The Portuguese Grand Prix got off to a painful and slightly embarrassing start for Kawasaki’s Alex Hofmann when the 24-year-old German crashed his Ninja ZX-RR during an exhibition ride at Estoril’s seafront Casino on Wednesday afternoon. Hofmann joined fellow riders Alex Barros, Makoto Tamada, Pablo Nieto, Casey Stoner and Mika Kallio, for a short demonstration ride in front of a small, but enthusiastic crowd in the centre of Estoril, to promote this weekend’s race at the Autodromo Fernanda Pires da Silva, which is located on the outskirts of the resort town. A brief demonstration by the two-stroke contingent went off without any problems but the power of the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR caught Hofmann out as he started his return run on the short demonstration course. The Kawasaki rider got on the gas a little too early as he prepared for the run back up the hill to the casino, with the result that the back of the bike span up on the slippery road surface and unceremoniously flicked him over the high side, much to the astonishment of the watching crowd and television crews. “I don’t know what happened,” declared Hofmann. “I didn’t get on the gas that hard, but the rear still came round on me without any warning. I guess it was just a combination of cold tyres and a slippery road. It’s bad enough crashing at any time, but to do it at 40 kph during a demonstration parade is incredibly embarrassing. I didn’t want to take my helmet off in front of the crowd, because they’d have been able to see how red my face was!” “And if crashing in front of a crowd wasn’t bad enough, there were also quite a few television crews in attendance. Most of the people in the paddock had already seen the crash on television before I’d even got back to the track, so I know I’m going to have to put up with a few jokes at my expense this weekend.” While damage to his Ninja ZX-RR was limited to a broken footrest and a few scratches on the fairing, Hofmann hit his left hand hard on the floor during the crash and was later diagnosed as having cracked two small bones in his wrist by staff at the Clinica Mobile. “I just can’t believe my bad luck. Other riders have had much bigger crashes during testing and have walked away unscathed. Even Shakey Byrne only suffered a bruised head after crashing his scooter at 50 kph, despite not having any protective gear on at the time. This was my first crash since the opening round at Welkom last season, but I manage to crack two bones in my hand falling off at almost walking pace. Unbelievable.” “I went over the top of the bike and hit my left hand quite hard on the ground. My wrist is quite sore and swollen at the moment, but I’m hoping that resting it today will mean it’s okay for the start of practice tomorrow,” added the bruised, but upbeat, Kawasaki rider. Free practice for Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix starts tomorrow at 10.00 in the morning, and continues at 14.00 tomorrow afternoon. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: HOFMANN SIDELINED BY INJURY AT ESTORIL Kawasaki’s Alex Hofmann will not race in this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril after being diagnosed with a fractured scaphoid in his left wrist, sustained in a crash during a pre-event promotion in Estoril on Wednesday afternoon. The 24-year-old German rider was taking part in an organised MotoGP parade at Estoril’s seafront casino when he was highsided from his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR and landed heavily on his wrist. Initially it was thought that Hofmann had only suffered bruising and swelling, but an x-ray taken today, once the swelling had reduced sufficiently, confirmed that the Kawasaki rider had fractured his scaphoid, together with another small bone in his wrist. Unable to grip the handlebars of his Ninja ZX-RR properly as a result of the injury, the Kawasaki Racing Team made the decision to withdraw Hofmann from the event, rather than risking further injury by him riding when not fully fit. Understandably, given his impressive performance in the opening race of the season at Jerez just five days ago, Hofmann is devastated not to be racing this weekend. “I am so disappointed and frustrated,” declared Hofmann. “After last weekend’s result at Jerez, I was so looking forward to coming here and scoring another good finish. I just can’t believe that a silly mistake during a promotional event has left me unable to race this weekend, and facing a real fight back to fitness for the next race in China.” “If there were any way I could race then I’d definitely be out there, but the scaphoid fracture makes it difficult to hold the handlebars at a standstill, never mind at race pace. Estoril is a very physical track and my wrist simply isn’t up to the job of muscling the bike around here.” “Too many top racers have ended their careers through coming back too early after fracturing their scaphoid, which is why we decided that the best course of action would be to withdraw from this weekend’s race, rather than risk further injury. Although I’m devastated to be missing the Portuguese Grand Prix, I need to put this weekend behind me and focus completely on getting myself back to full fitness for the race in Shanghai in two weeks’ time,” added a very dejected Hofmann. “For a motorcycle racer, a fractured scaphoid is a serious injury,” explained Kawasaki Team Coordinator, Michael Bartholemy. “It leaves the rider unable to grip the handlebars properly and makes controlling a bike as powerful as the Ninja ZX-RR at such a physical circuit as Estoril very difficult indeed.” “Also, if the scaphoid doesn’t heal properly then it can cause problems for a rider in the future. Obviously we want Alex to recover fully from this injury, which is why we made the decision to withdraw him from this weekend’s event, to give the fracture a better chance of healing before the next race.” The scaphoid bone is found on the thumb side of the hand, within the anatomical snuffbox (the hollow between thumb and index finger). Fractures to the scaphoid are common, especially amongst motorcycle racers, and are normally caused by falling on an outstretched hand and hyper-extending the wrist joint. But scaphoid fractures are also particularly slow to heal due to poor circulation to the bone, and even a rapidly immobilised fracture can require surgery. Under normal circumstances, a fully immobilised scaphoid fracture takes between six and eight weeks to heal completely.