Hopper home for surgery.

Red Bull Yamaha rider John Hopkins has joined countryman Kenny Roberts in returning home to the United States for surgery, following his spectacular crash in the final qualifying session for the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

"After the crash in Sachsenring, I went to see a Surgeon that Red Bull recommend for me in Innsbruck in Austria," explained the American, who had been enjoying an impressive debut season in MotoGP. "After some x-rays on the Wednesday, he told me the hand would definitely need surgery to heal correctly. I wanted to get the surgery done in the US, I think that?s in my best interest so I planned to come home to the States and see Dr. Ting.

"The X-rays showed that my knuckle was completely busted in half and shoved back into my hand by 4mm. The bone was totally misplaced making my middle finger shorter than it should be by 4mm....So I came to Dr. Ting's clinic in San Francisco for the operation."

The 45-minute operation on his left hand involved the insertion of three permanent screws into the metacarpal bone of the middle finger. The screws will assist the metacarpal bone in knitting back together. (The metacarpal bones extend from the wrist to the knuckles of each finger.)

"Now, it?s the second day after the surgery and my hand is in a fibreglass-moulded split to support the bone," added Hopkins. "I have to keep it solid like this and not mess around with it for 10 days to give the bone time to knit together. I?ve had the dressing changed again today and I?ve got just a small incision in the top of the hand and the Dr. tells me its healing up nicely and on schedule."

Despite the injury, Hopkins acknowledges that he was fortunate for the mid-season break before the Czech Grand Prix, held on the last weekend of August. "If there is one good thing about all of this, the timing was perfect. I?ve got time to heal so I?m 100% for Brno," said the #21 star. "I am really looking forward to Brno, I like everything about that circuit, the flowing track, surrounded by the trees, it?s unbelievable and really suits my riding style. So I?ll be training hard as soon as I can so I can be 100% fit for that."