2012 MotoGP Prep

While training at a private indoor flat track facility near his home in Owensboro, Kentucky, Ducati Team's Nicky Hayden crashed, suffering multiple injuries.

The MotoGP pilot underwent an X-ray and a CAT scan following the crash, and doctors discovered that Hayden broke his left scapula and fractured two ribs. Hayden, a teammate of nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi, then followed up with an MRI, Ducati reports.

As for now, Hayden doesn't have plans for surgery, but will have the scapula "reassessed next week by Dr. Arthur Ting in Fremont, Calif., to see how his fracture is progressing."

Hayden will remain home and recuperate. His appearance in the first winter MotoGP test session at Sepang Jan. 31 is questionable depending on the healing process, Ducati says.

Nicky Hayden (Dcuati Team MotoGP) says: "Obviously, injuries are never good, but it's part of motorcycle racing. Just like at Valencia, it was kind of a freak accident. I was starting to train again, like I normally do during the winter, at a private track near my house.

"I came up behind another rider, and he went to move out of the way. I wasn't going that fast, but he clipped my front wheel and I went down and landed pretty hard on my left shoulder, and that was it.

"It's disappointing, but there's nothing to do about it but heal quickly. Anyway, this doesn't change my expectations for 2012 which, fortunately, is just around the corner."

This was Hayden's first time on a motorcycle since Valencia MotoGP Nov. 6. During the Valencia MotoGP finale, former Rizla Suzuki rider Alvaro Bautista crashed at Turn 1, taking out former Pramac Racing Ducati's Randy de Puniet and the Ducati duo of Rossi and Hayden.

The Kentucky Kid broke fractured his right scaphoid, a small bone in the wrist. He underwent successful surgery, but was forced to miss the traditional post-season MotoGP testing.