Stoner vows to fight on
Casey Stoner says he will attempt to race in Sunday's Indianapolis MotoGP despite fracturing his right ankle in a crash during qualifying.
The reigning World Champion, who had just hit the front of the timesheets in qualifying, suffered a violent high-side at Turn 13 ten minutes into the session.
Stoner was thrown from his bike high into the air and landed heavily. The Aussie attempted to stand only to fall back to the ground. He immediately let the medics know that his ankle was hurt and was taken to the track's medical centre.
According to his Honda team, Stoner suffered 'several small chipped bone fractures, a 10mm fracture on the talar dome below the tibia and fibula, contusions to the anterior tibia, posterior tibia and medial malleolus, and soft tissue swelling around the ankle.
'He has also torn his deltoid, anterior talofibial, calcaneal and fibular ligaments in addition to a high ankle sprain.'
Speaking about the injury, Stoner said: "It's the first time in my career that I haven't been able to get up and walk away from an accident myself," he said.
"As soon as I stood up, I looked down and saw my foot was at a strange angle to my leg. I had a shooting pain in my lower leg, then I felt a crack as my ankle popped back in. It was very painful and I was sure I had broken something.
"The local staff at the circuit medical centre were all very helpful and after taking some initial x-rays they agreed I should go to hospital for further checks. The team that looked after me at the Methodist Hospital were fantastic, so professional, attentive and incredibly helpful, I'd like to thank them all for taking good care of me.
"They confirmed that I had some chipped bone around my ankle and a small fracture, but I was concerned about the damage done to any ligaments so we did an MRI scan. This showed that I had torn almost every ligament in my ankle and heavily bruised my tibia."
The Aussie, though, has vowed to do everything he can to make sure he makes the grid for Sunday's race.
"I need to see how I feel tomorrow morning to understand if I'm able to race," he said.
"I am really disappointed as I felt we had the package for pole in this race and a strong chance for the win. Many other riders came off today, I hope they are OK.
"We'll see how we feel in the morning and will do all we can to be on the grid."
Stoner qualified sixth for the race while his teammate Dani Pedrosa and Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo are first and second on the grid respectively.
