Honda’s Jonathan Rea was one of the riders sustaining injury at the Nurburgring.

Three front-running factory World Superbike Championship (WSBK) riders sustained serious injuries in an incident-packed final day of racing at the Nurburgring yesterday.

The field was depleted by one when Kawasaki’s Loris Baz crashed out in the final chicane section on a warm-up lap, with the Frenchman immediately transported to hospital.

He was confirmed to have suffered a fractured C2 vertebrae, though no spinal injuries nor neurological problems were discovered. A specialist will attend to Baz later today to determine the next steps of action.

Race one brought about the downfall of both Pata Honda World Superbike’s Jonathan Rea and FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier, with the pairing crashing on oil spilt by the stricken Pedercini Kawasaki of Federico Sandi.

Rea slid into a trackside barrier at high speed, breaking his left femur in the process.

He too was transported to hospital where last night he underwent surgery to have a pin inserted.

Camier was assessed at the same hospital for possible neck injuries, but later given the all-clear. The extent of any other injuries is not yet known.

Suzuki team manager Paul Denning was critical of the circumstances surrounding the crash, expressing concern that riders were not given fair warning of the impeding danger.

“It’s important to be calm in these situations, but we do have concerns as to why the bike that caused the oil slick was even out there on the track, given certain information that we have, and why there wasn’t clear warning of the oil for the approaching riders or even a red flag – as there was in race two,” said Denning.

“We’ll speak to the Race Direction to see if these matters can be explained and hopefully improved in the future.

“The team is relieved that Leon’s injuries don’t appear to be too serious, but we also send our best wishes to Johnny Rea who also through no fault of his own was involved in the crash.”

Riders and teams have a 10-day margin until the start of the next round at Istanbul in Turkey, with their participation to be determined upon medical checks by series officials.