MOTOGP: Laverty escapes Sepang test crash

Eugene Laverty escaped without serious injury in a dramatic crash on the first day of official 2016 MotoGP testing at Sepang on Monday.

The Aspar Ducati rider went off at high speed at Turn 4, jumping off the bike before it plowed into the barriers. Laverty, who has spent the last two months recovering from multiple injuries sustained in a previous test crash, was initially feared to have suffered further fractures. This was ruled out following x-rays.

"Thankfully there is no fracture, just some tissue and ligament damage, which is a relief," he said. "It's just unbelievable that after spending the last couple of months recovering from a broken wrist we have this on the first day of the first test."

Although Aspar did not reveal the cause of the problem in that instance, it confirmed that Laverty had suffered a stuck throttle earlier in the day.

"I had to jump off the bike under braking into Turn 4," he said of his crash. "It was a scary moment but quite lucky really because it could have been much worse.

"The bike went straight into the tire wall at well over 100km/h so that wasn't nice to see – I never like to see a bike destroyed."

Laverty is now awaiting medical clearance to continue with the test, which runs until Wednesday.

Originally on Autosport.com