EDWARDS INJURED AT ESTORIL MOTOGP ROUND

Both CRT riders fell in the crash, but Edwards came off worse, fracturing his left collarbone. The injury will see the likable Texan miss the Le Mans MotoGP round on May 20th, with a likely return being at Catalunya on June 3rd.

After the crash Colin Edwards was taken to the circuit's clinic and was taken care of by Dr. Sarmiento and his team. He was under observation after the accident and was released to leave the clinic later that night.
Edwards will fly to Barcelona today for surgery on the fracture.

Marco Curioni - NGM Managing Director
"Our main concern is Colin's wellbeing. The only positive outcome of today would be that the difficulties encountered during Saturday morning's free practice were solved and during qualifying unfortunately he wasn't able to get in his fast lap."

With Edwards highly unlikely to be able to participate in the next MotoGP round at Le Mans, the search is on for a replacement rider. A number of hopefuls have reportedly already contacted the NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team offering their services, but any decision on the replacement rider, along with Edwards' recovery time from the injury, has yet to be confirmed.

So far in the 2012 MotoGP World Championship, both Edwards, on the Suter-framed, BMW-engined machine, and de Puniet, on an ART-framed, Aprilia-engined bike, have been amongst the quickest of the CRT competitors, but that pace has yet to transfer to solid race results. After the crash, de Puniet finished the Estoril race in 13th, narrowly beaten by his Aspar ART team mate, Aleix Espargaro.