MotoGP: Hayden undergoes further surgery

Nicky Hayden has undergone further wrist surgery to try to tackle his long-standing injury during MotoGP's summer break.

The 2006 world champion's 2014 season has been plagued by a reoccurrence of an old injury to his right wrist. He had to withdraw from last month's Italian Grand Prix and underwent an initial operation afterward. Hayden then had a further procedure at San Diego's Oasis Center on Thursday.

A statement from his Aspar team described the operation as: "a proximal row carpectomy with radial styloidectomy, which involves the removal of a row of small bones in the wrist in order to increase mobility within the joint. Dr. David Chao reported that the operation had been a success and that Nicky now has increased range of motion in his wrist."

Hayden joined Aspar this season to ride one of its Open class Hondas after five years with the factory Ducati team. His only top-10 finish of 2014 so far is an eighth place in the season-opening Qatar GP, although he is second among the Production Honda runners in the championship, holding 13th overall, four points behind Gresini's Scott Redding.

There had been speculation that Hayden's wrist issues could hasten the end of the 32-year-old's MotoGP career, but the Aspar statement underlined that the team "has full confidence in the rider and wishes him a swift and full recovery."

The MotoGP season resumes at Indianapolis on Aug. 10.