Criville under surgery after Jerez crash.

Team Repsol YPF Honda suffered a double blow when Alex Crivill? needed surgery for an injured tendon on his right little finger, and bad weather forced the team to abandon their third day of testing.

Doctor Mir of Clinica Dexeus, Barcelona, who operated on Crivill? yesterday, spoke of the riders condition, "Alex Crivill? needs to rest for four weeks and then have two more weeks to recover. This means he will be ready to test by mid January. He went through surgery last night, after slashing by one centimetre and a half a tendon of his right hand."

"We first cleaned this injury with antibiotics with a 24-hour effect, and then we fixed the tendon with some needles. We've done a skin transplant from his wrist to his injured finger," he continued, "The rider will remain in the hospital today so as to control the infection that he could have. However we expect him to leave the hospital by tomorrow midday."

Meanwhile, overnight rain in Jerez meant that Tohru Ukawa and the other Honda riders, had to wait in the pits for the track to dry out, unfortunately the bad weather continued and the team were forced to admit defeat.

This means that Crivill? and Ukawa will now not test their 500cc Honda NSR's until January 2001 in Malaysia. This test has yet to be confirmed, but is planned to be part of their intense pre-season program.