Hapless Xaus suffers another broken leg

Just a month after returning to action from a broken leg, Ruben Xaus has once again been sidelined with the same injury after crashing on oil in the final race of the 2009 World Superbike season.

Xaus missed one event after crashing at Brno in July, but will now undergo a second recovery period heading into the off-season after getting caught up in Carlos Checa's mechanical failure just ahead.

Sat just behind Checa as his Ten Kate Honda expired, Xaus slipped on his trailing oil, leaving him with another break in his right leg.

A dismal end to the year for the Spaniard, who celebrated one of his best results of the season in eighth during the first race, Xaus is nonetheless focused on getting fit again and helping BMW build on a promising maiden season.

"Just an unlucky day for me, or maybe it has been an unlucky season. Checa's bike blew up and covered the front of my bike with oil and obviously some of it went on to the front tyre. That caused the crash, so I am happy that the crash wasn't my fault, but I am unhappy with the result.

"This season has been hard for us all, but we knew that before the start and it is thanks to all the hard work everybody has put in that we have had so many top ten finishes. Considering that this is our first season, I think we should be happy about what we have achieved so far - and there's much more to come, I'm sure of it.

"The bike has improved since the last time I rode it and that makes me eager to find out how much more I can push it. The team are fantastic and the team spirit has been superb right from the start. It's not nice ending the season with a broken leg, but there was nothing I could do about the crash and I prefer to think about the potential of the bike and working with Troy and the rest of the team to put it on the podium."