Pedrosa undergoes successful operation

The fragile Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa has successfully gone under the knife to repair the damages to his shoulder and collarbone.

Two podium finishes in the opening rounds have placed Pedrosa second in the championship and despite showing a healthy form in pre-season testing the pain for the Spaniard was unmasked following the Qatar round. It was visible that he was struggling with a drop of pace in the closing stages of the race and the pain shown on his face when seen interviewed in parc-ferme.

With a month between Jerez and Estoril, Pedrosa underwent an operation to decompress his left subclavian artery. In order to release the arterial compression, the titanium plate and screws fixed to the collarbone were removed.

To diagnose the problem medical checks were performed at the Institut Vascular Sala Planell, with Pedrosa undertaking several physical tests and a four dimensional CT. The confirmation of the symptoms of pain, numbness and the lack of strength affecting Dani's performance were due to the compression of the subclavian artery secondary to the collarbone fracture in his left arm.

The cause of the nerve damage was said to be from the crash at Motegi as a result of a failure in the fly-by-wire system, but Italian website Sportsmediaset in a stereotypical fashion sent out the gossip that the story behind the injury to the collarbone is down to a motocross crash in training.

Whatever the reason behind the injury the Repsol Honda has just under a month to recuperate before the series moves on to Estoril.