Source: Supplied.

Aspar MotoGP Team’s former world champion Nicky Hayden has broken his right thumb while riding mini-motos in the lead-up to this weekend’s Aragon round of the MotoGP World Championship.

Hayden is confident he’ll be able to participate in the weekend’s racing, but will have to wait until after practice to understand his condition fully. The right hand is often seen as the worst to injury as is it with the right hand that riders control throttle and braking.

“Aragon is next, it’s quite a unique track with a lot of elevation and it’s quite technical, with some blind entries and downhill braking,” Hayden explained. “It’s certainly not an easy track and I haven’t made it any easier this year because I had a little accident training on mini-motos in Italy and broke my thumb.

“I have seen the doctors and had the scans and I am optimistic I’ll still be able to race, but we will have to see on Friday how I feel. Unfortunately it’s the right thumb, which is always a little bit worse, but I have been doing a lot of therapy in the last days and I definitely feel a bit better.

“We weren’t having an easy season as it is and this won’t make it easier, but injuries are as much a part of this game as finding a set-up for your bike! Hopefully we can go there and still have a positive weekend.”

Aragon has produced mixed results for Hayden; in 2010 an incredible move saw the then Ducati rider finish third ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, which was Hayden’s lone podium finish on the Ducati that season.

Two years later saw a less than preferable end to Hayden’s Aragon GP as he crashed early in the race, flipping over a trackside barrier, but luckily remaining uninjured. Last year saw Hayden claim a solid ninth position on the Open Honda in a rain-affected race.