PICTURES: Jacque triggers chicane chaos.

When Olivier Jacque missed his braking point for the chicane at the end of the opening lap of Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix, there was little chance of avoiding the riders ahead of him.

An out-of-control OJ searched in vain for somewhere to stop his speeding Kawasaki, but the inevitable occurred when he slammed into the side of Fiat Yamaha's Colin Edwards at the apex of the corner - wiping out the front wheel of Dani Pedrosa's Repsol Honda in the process.

Pedrosa's RCV then brought down Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen, leaving four riders on the floor, two of whom - Edwards and Pedrosa - had started on the front row of the grid. Rookie Sylvain Guintoli stayed on two wheels, but ran wide after hitting debris.

Jacque came off worst, being thrown heavily onto the asphalt, and it was several minutes before the apologetic former 250cc world champion was able to leave the scene.

"I am really sorry about what happened and there are no excuses: I made a mistake," sighed Jacque, whose injuries mean he will not take part in Monday's test. "I got a decent start and I was feeling good. It was a big group and I saw a good opportunity to make places up after the fast turn into the chicane. I was in the middle of the group and I missed my braking marker and when I braked it was too late. There was no space. I had no way out and couldn't avoid touching Edward's rear wheel. I made high flight and landed on my coccyx. I thought I had broken it, as it was really painful, but luckily it is not. Now I still feel a little bit dizzy but I feel even worse for the team as we had worked really hard throughout the weekend and the bike was feeling very good."

"Olivier has held his hands up and accepted it was his mistake, but I'm sorry for Colin Edwards and the others who were caught up in the crash," added Kawasaki competition manager Michael Bartholemy. "Olivier had a bang on the head and has badly bruised his lower back, so he won't test [here on Monday], but he should be fully fit again for Shanghai."

Pedrosa also received trackside assistance, for a minor chest injury, and will also miss Monday's Istanbul test as a result of the accident.

"It's a shame about the crash because I think I had a chance of a good result here - it seems that this track is not so lucky for me!" shrugged Pedrosa, who fell on the last lap of the 2006 race. "I was braking into the final tight section of the track when I was hit on the inside and went down. I have some pain in my chest and neck so I won't be testing tomorrow, but I should be ok to race in China."

Edwards was able to limp away with a bruised knee, but couldn't hide his frustration at an opportunity missed.

"Valentino ran off the track a bit at the fast right turn [before the chicane] and I think everyone was checking up a bit and looking at him instead of thinking about the next corner!" said the Texan. "It seemed that everyone around me ran a bit wide into turn 12 but I braked normally and went underneath them when Jacque hit me from behind and I went down. I'm not badly hurt but my knee took a bit of a bang and it's swollen up quite a lot. It's pretty disappointing because we know my bike was working well and once I got some heat into the tyre it might have been a good race."

Vermeulen was the only rider able to rejoin and went on to set the fastest lap of the race - despite a damaged machine.

"[Jacque] took out Edwards and Pedrosa right in front of me and I had nowhere to go but down. Luckily my bike was still running and lying on top of Pedrosa's. I grabbed the clutch, pulled my bike off his and re-joined the race," said the Australian, who crossed the finish line in eleventh. "My handlebar was bent and the fairing was broken but everything else seemed to be fine. I gave it a lap or two to see if everything was ok and then just got my head down and went for it."