Gibernau undergoes second collarbone surgery.

After returning from back-to-back races in Germany and America, it was discovered that the titanium plate inserted into Sete Gibernau's broken collarbone had 'weakened'.

Gibernau sustained the broken left collarbone when he collided with Ducati Marlboro team-mate Loris Capirossi during a first corner pile-up - that subsequently involved four other riders - at the Catalan Grand Prix on June 18th, the first of five races to be held in six weeks.

The Spaniard immediately underwent an operation at Barcelona's Dexeus Hospital, where surgeons Xavier Mir and Ignacio Ginebreda removed a plate from a previous incident and replaced it with a larger titanium one.

After going through the necessary period of convalescence and receiving the OK from doctors to race again, Gibernau returned to the track on his factory Desmosedici GP6 for the German and US GPs.

On both occasions Sete realised that his left shoulder was weak, but as he didn't feel any pain he continued to stoically ride through practice, qualifying and race on both weekends, finishing eighth and tenth in difficult events for Ducati and Bridgestone.

But, as soon as he returned from the USA, Sete went to Barcelona for a check-up and an X-ray scan revealed complications, caused by a weakening of the plate itself.

To avoid any further problems, Mir and Ginebreda decided to strengthen the main plate bolt and boost the bone healing process with injections of 'growth factors' extracted from the rider's own blood.

Gibernau underwent the second operation on Wednesday and was able to return home on Thursday.

Gibernau's recovery time should be quicker than following the first operation and Dr. Mir maintains that Sete will be able to take part in the next race - but only a medical check scheduled for Wednesday 2nd August will establish whether or not the Ducati rider can race in the next round of the MotoGP World Championship, the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno on August 20.