Monster Energy Yamaha’s Steven Frossard will learn the extent of an injury to his right knee after an accident while training yesterday.
The luckless pilot fell while negotiating a corner after a mini-whoops section at a private track in southern France and it was only upon resuming his training session in preparation for his home Grand Prix next weekend that Frossard felt discomfort in his right leg.
An MRI scan performed by a knee specialist directly after the incident confirmed either a total or partial rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament but the full degree of the tear will not be known for several days and until inflammation has subsided.
Frossard is slightly encouraged by the fact that the ailment is not as painful as his injury in qualification for the 2012 Grand Prix of Bulgaria that also involved damage to the meniscus and eventually required a knee reconstruction.
“I cannot say how disappointed I am,” said the former MX1 World Championship runner-up who was fully dialled-in for a return to action on his factory YZ450FM at Ernee for the eighth round of the series on June 8-9th.
“I also cannot believe my bad luck. After setting myself a firm goal after my foot problem at the beginning of the season I now need to start over again. I can just hope for some positive news next week and after eight days from now when I will know what is happening in the knee.”
Racing Manager for Yamaha Motor Europe Laurens Klein Koerkamp said: “It is almost unbelievable but yet another reminder for us about how tough this sport can be both physically and mentally; we feel pretty bad for Steven right now.
“We’ll wait for the full diagnosis before we can make an assessment about the consequences for the rest of the season.”
