Valentino Rossi suffers from a shin fracture

Updated on: 06 June,2010 08:11 AM IST |
AFP |

Nine-time World Champion to miss home MotoGP after high-speed crash

$Valentino Rossi suffers from a shin fracture$

Nine-time World Champion to miss home MotoGP after high-speed crash

Valentino Rossi crashes his bike during the qualifying practice of the Italian GP on Saturday. PIC/AFP

The 31-year-old nine-time world champion -- seven of them at this level, comprising six at MotoGP and one at 500cc -- had been fastest in practice on Friday despite still suffering the effects of a shoulder injury.

However, he and his Yamaha came to grief 15 minutes from the end of Saturday morning's practice session while he was third fastest.

Rossi -- who has won at the track nine times during his career in all categories -- was stretchered off the track and taken to the medical centre where he was diagnosed with according to the website a 'displaced and exposed fracture of his right tibia'.

Rossi was then taken to Florence to undergo an operation and looks likely to miss a couple of months of the season. "It's an injury more serious than we thought," doctor Macchiagodena, who attended to Rossi said.

Rossi's team-mate Jorge Lorenzo recorded the sessions' fastest time in his bid to make it three wins in a row.

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