Crutchlow undergoes successful second surgery

Cal Crutchlow has had a second surgery on his fractured ankle and tibia in Australia and aims to return home to begin physiotherapy this weekend.

The LCR Honda was ruled out of the Australia MotoGP last weekend after a nasty crash midway through FP2 at Phillip Island in which he sustained a fractured right ankle and tibia which meant he also missed this weekend's Malaysian round.

Crutchlow had an initial operation for an external fixator to put the broken bones in place before a scheduled second operation which took under two hours to insert two plates in his ankle to set the bones to begin the healing process.

The three-time MotoGP race-winner is aiming to fly home from Melbourne on Sunday and will start his physiotherapy recovery immediately.

HRC test rider Stefan Bradl has stepped in for the 33-year-old at Sepang this weekend while it remains unconfirmed if Crutchlow will be fit to return to action for the 2018 MotoGP finale in Valencia given the tight two-week turnaround.

“The surgery was performed by Dr Matthias Russ, the same doctor who carried out the first operation, and he stated that he was very pleased with how the surgery had gone,” Lucio Cecchinello, LCR Honda team principal, said. “Cal has had two small plates inserted and he will be ready to fly home on Sunday night - provided there are no complications, which nobody expects.

“Once he’s back home he will start physiotherapy and will try his best to be fit again as soon as possible.”

Crutchlow still holds the top MotoGP Independents’ rider spot with fifth place in the championship thanks to an 11-point gap to nearest rival Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci.