Marlboro Ducati's Nicky Hayden says he is fully fit for this weekend's Motegi MotoGP round and will only have to have the stitches taken out of his chest at the Clinica Mobile when he gets to the track.
The former MotoGP World Champion suffered cuts and bruises in a massive highside during qualifying at Qatar but he managed to make the grid on Sunday night and for the postponed race the following Monday.
“My first GP with Ducati didn’t exactly go as I’d hoped but we took some positives out of it – I lapped quicker in the second half of the race than I had done all weekend and above all I felt comfortable on the bike," said Hayden.
"Hopefully this will help us work out what it is exactly that I need to improve my feeling with the bike because being so far off the pace in practice wasn’t cool! Physically I’m okay – no doubt the race was tough because I was pretty beaten up but I’ve recovered well and I don’t expect to have any problems in Japan.
"I’ll probably go to the Clinica on Thursday to have the stitches removed and that will be the end of the matter. I’m really keen to do well in this race and even though I’ve always had a kind of love-hate relationship with Motegi – with some good results and some bad ones – it is always a special Grand Prix.”
