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No skin graft for Smith following Mugello crashes

Monster Yamaha's Bradley Smith didn't have to undergo a skin graft after his two monster crashes at Mugello's MotoGP round but did have a wire inserted into his left little finger to replace the extension tendon.

The finger, which he trapped under the bike in his Friday tumble at Casanova/Savelli, was still too raw to be operated on so the initial plan to carry out the graft was delayed. Smith will be able to compete at Barcelona next weekend.

“The initial plan was to have a skin graft but racing in Mugello meant the finger wasn’t really in the right shape to accept new skin. It was too soft so rather than a skin graft it was decided to replace the extension tendon I damaged with a wire. That will help to keep my finger straight so it doesn t keep on collapsing and will basically do the job of the tendon," said Smith.

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"The finger has been pulled as tight as possible and the hope now is that the skin naturally heals itself. Now all I can do is wait and see whether the skin can heal naturally and that can be a long process. If it was a bone that was damaged I’d have more of an idea when it will be fully recovered, but being skin it is hard for me to be given a time frame when it will be ready.

"If I was going to sit at home with the finger in a splint it would head quite quickly, but obviously I want to ride at Catalunya, so the thing is that I don't get an infection in the wound and the hole can start to heal naturally. Unfortunately I am going to have this problem for a while and maybe the summer break will give me the time I need to let it heal itself.

"After Catalunya I will get the finger checked out again to see how it is healing because it might be that I will need a skin graft at a later stage. But the priority right now is to try and let it recover naturally. Fortunately the scaphoid bone in my wrist was checked and that didn't require any surgery but there is no specific time on when that will be completely healed.

"I am now going to stay in Italy for a few days to be continually checked by Doctor Costa and his staff before heading to Barcelona. Once again I want to thank all the Clinica Mobile staff and those responsible for my treatment in Italy because they are doing a wonderful job and I really appreciate it."

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